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Click here to read more about Law.When I was functioning as Magistrate at Chamarajanagar, during 1967, I had to try a case of arson, in which a haystack was destroyed by setting fire to it. The person who claimed to be an eyewitness to the incident was the one who was regularly supplying milk to us. He entered the witness box and deposed that he had seen the accused standing on the outer edge of the compound and setting fire to the haystack inside the compound by holding a long pole lit with fire at the other end. After recording all the evidence, the case was posted for judgment. Two days prior to the date set for delivering the judgment, our milk vendor made bold to tell me that what he had deposed in court was true. I told him bluntly that he had committed a great blunder in so trying to influence me and asked him that if I succumbed to his influence and convicted the accused, would he have any faith in me, if I were to try any cases foisted against him? He begged to be excused and went away. I pronounced the judgment acquitting the accused, mainly on account of the evidence that haystack was 20 feet away from the place where the accused was supposed to have stood and set fire to it holding the lit pole, whereas the pole that had been seized and marked as material number 1 was less than 10 feet in length. On the day I pronounced the judgment, I told my wife that the milk supply was likely to be stopped from the next morning. But, contrary to our expectations, the same vendor continued to supply milk to us till I was transferred from Chamarajanagar. It was more surprising that on the day prior to our leaving Chamarajanagar, he prostrated before me and again begged me to excuse him for having tried to influence me. Normally, the rich and powerful persons get annoyed if the influence wielded by them does not yield result, but here was a case of an ordinary village rustic, who could repent for the mistake committed by him. Sri. Venkat Rao,
Retired District and Sessions Judge,
Saraswathipuram, Mysore. Click here if you would like to Contribute or send a feedback.
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