Ss. 161 & 172---Examination of witnesses by the police---Statement of witness recorded in case diary (zimni) prepared under S. 172, Cr.P.C. instead of being recorded separately--

 2021 SCMR 1914

Ss. 161 & 172---Examination of witnesses by the police---Statement of witness recorded in case diary (zimni) prepared under S. 172, Cr.P.C. instead of being recorded separately---Whether such statement constituted a witness statement under S. 161, Cr.P.C.---Held, that under S. 161(3), Cr.P.C. the police officer was to reduce in writing any statement made to him in the course of examination of any person supposed to be acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case---Police officer was to make a separate record of the statement of each such person but in case the statement of such a person, recorded by the Investigating Officer (IO), was embodied in the case diary instead of being recorded separately, it was at best a procedural lapse on the part of the IO but the statement itself did not lose its character as a statement under S. 161, Cr.P.C.---Distinction between Ss. 161 & 172, Cr.P.C. was that while one dealt with the recording of the statement of witnesses / persons acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case, the other was the information or opinion of the IO which he gathered and formed during the course of the investigation --- So if while recording his opinion in the case diary, the IO also recorded the statement of a witness, any such statement continued to pass for a statement under S. 161, Cr.P.C. and did not become a part of the case diary under S. 172, Cr.P.C.