INTERESTED, INIMICAL AND RELATED WITNESSES

"Interested witness" is one who has a motive to falsely implicate an accused. "There cannot be an inflexible rule that the statement of an interested witness can never be accepted without corroboration". What corroboration is necessary? The corroboration found in the case was:
(a) The number of culprits mentioned was such as was required for the job.
(b) The persons mentioned were such as would be expected to join in the attack. (SC) PLD 1962 SC 269 Nazir and others.
Interested or Partisan evidence when may be relied on without corroboration and when corroboration necessary. Rule of prudence to see (a) whether the witnesses saw the occurrence and could identify the culprits, (b) whether they can be relied upon without corroboration, (c) whether the persons charged are not excessive in the circumstances; (d) need of corroboration in each case depends on particular circumstances of each case. (SC) PLD 1960 SC 387 Niaz.
Interested witnesses: Independent corroboration not an inflexible rule. Uncorroborated testimony may be relied on in context with other relevant circumstances of a particular case. (SC) PLD 1969 SC 488, PLD 1960 SC 387; PLD 1962 SC 269; PLD 1974 SC 37 ref. PLD 1975 SC 227 Abdul Rashid v. Umid Ali etc. PLJ 1985 SC 24. Muhammad Ali- 1985 SCMR 203.
Evidence of interested witness in a capital case cannot be made the basis of conviction unless such evidence is corroborated by unimpeachable and independent piece of evidence, 1998 SCMR 25. Haji Rab Nawaz. 
Want of enmity or interest does not stamp the statement of a witness with truth. Court has to see whether the statement of such witness is in consonance with the probabilities and material evidence and inspire confidence in a prudent mind. 1995 SCMR 1639, Muhammad Arshad.
Absence of enmity of eye-witnesses with the accused would not stamp their statements with truth. 1994 SCMR 1928, Muhammad Iqbal v. Abid Hussain.
Absence of enmity or want of interest does not stamp the statement of a witness with truth, it has to be seen whether the statement of witness is in consonance with probabilities and materially fits in the circumstances of the case and inspires confidence. (DB) PLJ 1991 Cr.C. (Lah.) 414 Binyamin etc.
The deceased had other enemies as well, alone was not sufficient to cast aspersion on the veracity of the prosecution witnesses who had no reason to leave the real culprit go scot free and implicate the accused. 1995 SCMR 259, Mehrban and 3 others v. The State.
Inimical witnesses' evidence cannot be accepted without corroboration. 1980 SCMR 979 Hazoor Bakhsh v. Waddon etc.
Witness when found interested and inimical and is thus likely to falsely implicate one or other accused it is essential to seek independent  corroboration regarding each one of the accused. PLD 1985 SC 11. Ghulam Sikandar v. Mamrez etc.
Interested and inimical.- P.Ws. interested in prosecution of accused and inimical to them. Such facts alone, held, not sufficient to discard their evidence altogether. Evidence to be properly sifted and weighed with necessary care and caution in the light of the facts of the case. (SC) PLD 1977 SC 413 Shahzado.
Friendship or relationship with the deceased is not sufficient to discredit a witness particularly when there is no motive to falsely implicate the accused. 1994 SCMR 1, Iqbal.
P.Ws. close relatives of the deceased. Previous enmity established. Discrepancies between medical and oral evidence. No independent corroboration. Acquittal maintained. 1985 SCMR 95. Sh. Muhammad v. Ghulam Muhammad.
Testimony of interested witness could be believed without corroboration if the intrinsic worth of such evidence satisfied the judicial conscience of the Judge. 1999 SCMR 304 Gul Khan. 
Evidence of witness related to deceased is not to be discarded merely because of his relationship with the deceased, if it is otherwise worthy of reliance and is corroborated by some other piece of evidence. PLJ 1997 S.C. 975, Wahid Bux etc. PLJ 1997 S.C. 978, Ayaz Ali Shah. 1997 SCMR 1424, Wahid Bakhsh.
Mere relationship of witnesses does not necessarily render a witness's account of occurrence subject to doubt. PLJ 1997 S.C. 1144, Abdul Rashid.
Related and inimical witness. Eye-witnesses closely related to the deceased and inimical towards the accused; statements of such witnesses should not be believed unless corroborated by unimpeachable evidence. (DB) PLD 1976 Lah. 1240 Rab Nawaz.
Inimical witness must be corroborated in some material particulars not only bearing upon the facts of the crime but upon the implication of the accused. (SC) 1968 SCMR 756 Gulsher and others. (SC) PLD 1963 SC 109 (124) Hamida Bano v. Ashiq Hussain.
Interested witness in case punishable with death is not to be relied upon unless corroborated by some unimpeachable and independent piece of evidence. 1998 SCMR 25, Haji Rab Nawaz v. Sikandar Zulqarnain, etc.
Interested and partisan witnesses deposing on capital charge cannot be relied upon unless corroborated by unimpeachable, reliable and trust worthy source or a circumstance which might remove inherent doubt attaching to such interested or partisan witnesses. PLJ 1996 Cr.C. (Lah.) 1911, Iftikhar Ahmad etc.
Interested and partisan eye-witnesses need corroboration. Such corroboration need not be such as would by itself justify conviction. Corroboration may be afforded by anything in circumstances of the case which end to Cr.C. (Lah.) 344 Khan Mir Khan etc. PLJ 1983 SC 362 Muhammad Azim. NLR 1983 Cr. 254.
Testimony of eye-witness being interested  and had been disbelieved substantially by the trial court in respect of 3 acquitted accused. Intrinsic inconsistency existed in their claim to be eye-witnesses and medical evidence. Accused acquitted. 1994 SCMR 6, Masood Ahmed.
Witness related to deceased giving contradictory statement, presence unnatural, conduct also unnatural, not relied upon. PLJ 1983 Cr.C. (Lah.) 156. Ghulam Rasul.
Interested and partisan. When the witnesses are interested and partisan corroboration must be such as would remove the doubt that the accused have been falsely implicated. (SC) PLD 1956 FC 86 (91) Ashraf v. Crown.
Interested witnesses' statements require to be corroborated as a matter of prudence to assure the court of the truth of the statement. Corroboration however not required on every material particular. (SC) 1972 SCMR 503 Muhammad Iqbal.
Both eye-witnesses real brothers inter se and uncles of deceased. One showing extraordinary, strange conduct after seeing his nephew dead and the other tried his best to suppress certain facts which he had mentioned in his earlier statements, thus proving it to be unwitnessed occurrence. No other evidence left. Acquittal ordered. 1985 SCMR 410 Saif Ullah.
Eye-witnesses related to each other and deceased, number of injuries found on deceased and number of accused named by P.Ws. not matching, held, independent corroboration necessary. (DB) NLR 1985 Cr. 703. Noor Ahmad.
Interested witnesses and corroboration. In the case of interested witnesses it is to be seen that their statements ring true or are not intrinsically unsound or inconsistent, after that test is satisfied, independent corroboration of some sort is to be looked for. For the safe administration of criminal justice when interested  when interested witnesses are uncorroborated accused acquitted. (SC) NLR 1982 Cr. 285 Sahib Masih.
Highly interested eye-witnesses and inimical to the accused and 3 eye-witnesses not mentioned in F.I.R. Ocular testimony conflicting with medical evidence. Accused given benefit of doubt and acquitted. (DB) PLD 1974 Lah. 306 Gharib Alam etc.
Interested and inimical P.Ws. 3 eye-witnesses found interested in deceased, and inimical towards accused. Evidence of witnesses is not corroborated by any circumstance. Possibility  of accused being wrongly roped in not ruled out. Benefit of doubt given to the accused and acquitted. (SC) 1970 SCMR 840 Dilmir etc.
Interested witnesses and grave doubts affecting entire prosecution evidence. No reliance placed. Accused acquitted. (SC) PLD 1959 SC (Pak.) 109 Rehmat etc.
Merely inimically disposed. Mere fact that the witnesses are inimically disposed towards the accused does not justify rejection of their testimony, although corroboration may be required before accepting it. (SC) 1969 P.Cr.LJ 1565 Ibrahim.
Mere enmity of a witness with the accused is no ground for disbelieving his evidence corroborated by other witnesses. PLD 1966 Dacca 1. Badshah Mian.
Relative of witness litigating against brother of accused would not make his evidence interested unless the witness has a personal motive against the accused. 1992 SCMR 338. Murid Abbas etc.
Indirect enmity: Enmity of the witness with the accused of a very indirect nature and relating to events which happened several years ago, does not affect evidence. (DB) PLD 1960 Lah. 774. State v. Sadiq etc.
False implication cannot be presumed where no enmity existed between the parties before the occurrence. The complainant party cannot be said to be interested. (DB) NLR 1989 Cr. 416 Shakeel Ahmed etc.
Witness having no cause to falsely depose against accused is not a sure guarantee that whether he has testified is nothing but truth. (DB) NLR 1991 Cr. 378. Muhammad Achar.
Interested witness, factors: Witness though not related to the deceased but belongs to the same caste, is a neighbour, is a recovery witness makes material improvements in his statement, cannot be termed as an independent witness. 1987 SCMR 1215, Muhammad Safdar Bhatti.
Testimony of interested witnesses legally can sustain conviction if found fee from doubt. (DB) PLJ 1997 Cr.C. (Lah.) 1587, Muhammad Yar, etc.
Interested witness not unworthy of credit. Interest and truth might go together. There is no rule of law that an interested witness cannot be relied upon without corroboration. (DB) PLD 1988 Lah. 149. Faiz Muhammad.
Investigation Officer is also interested in conviction, when interested and inimical witnesses are not corroborated no conviction can be based. (DB) PLJ 1986 Cr.C. (Lah.) 196. Asghar Ali etc.
Exceptionally strong corroboration is necessary which is almost by itself sufficient to establish guilt, when the eye-witnesses are interested. (SC) PLD 1963 SC 25 Wasiullah v. Mirza Ali etc. PLJ 1981 Cr. C. (Lah.) 373 Dost Muhammad etc.
Interested witness requires some sort of independent corroboration. 1982 SCMR 178. Sahib Masih.
Highly interested witnesses uncorroborated by independent evidence. It is unsafe to convict on such evidence only. (SC) 1968 SCMR 1361 Hazrat Ullah. etc.
Eye-witnesses close relatives of the deceased can be believed if their evidence is corroborated by circumstantial and medical evidence. (DB) NLR 1984 Cr. 333. Mati-ur-Rehman.
Interested and close relatives of deceased relied on; "No independent circumstance being available to connect either of the appellants with the commission of the crime, it was most important to examine the character of the eye-witnesses with particular care to be assured that although they were closely related to the deceased whose enmity with the present appellants and Atta Muhammad (deceased) was  matter of common knowledge, yet they could be relied upon beyond reasonable doubt for holding that the appellants and not other caused the death. (SC) PLD 1961 SC 13 (15) Muhammad Sajjad.
Corroboration of interested witnesses is not an inflexible rule. PLJ 1985 SC 24. Muhammad Ali. 1985 SCMR 203.
When one accused is falsely implicated by  a witness, he would not be relied upon regarding other co-accused unless his testimony is corroborated by very strong and independent circumstances regarding each one of the other accused. PLJ 1995 Cr.C. (Lah.) 272 (D.B) Allah Ditta etc.
Interested witness; independent corroboration not always to be insisted upon. Value to be attached to the statement of an interested witness depends on facts and circumstances of each case. (SC) PLD 1977 SC 557. Roshan etc.
Testimony of an interested witness can sustain conviction if found intrinsically free from doubt or infirmity 1985 SCMR 860. Mst. Sadiq Jan v. Muhammad Rashid etc.
Interested witness evidence not to be discarded, but to be carefully and cautiously sifted and corroboration looked for. (DB) PLD 1978 Kar. 112. Wali Muhammad etc.
Interested witnesses relied upon without corroboration. Reliance can be placed on interested witnesses if circumstances of case are that the implication of innocent persons is excluded. (DB) NLR 1981 Cr. 142. Amir etc.
Interested witnesses relied upon, when their statements were consistent and no improvement or exaggerations were made. (DB) NLR 1984 Cr. 304. Allah Yar.
Corroboration of an interested witness is not always necessary. (SC) 1969 P.Cr.LJ 1168 Abdul Majeed. 1969 SCMR 437.
Interested and disinterested witnesses when to be relied on: When the statement of a witness inspires confidence and free from doubt can be relied upon even if the witness is interested, but when the statement suffers from inherent defects and appears to be improbable and false it cannot be relied on even if the witness is not interested. (DB) 1970 P.Cr. LJ 450 (459) Khan.
Interested witnesses: Prosecution witnesses even interested can be impartial but impartiality must be such as to be uninterested in what transpires as the result of their evidence. (DB) PLD 1975 Kar. 107 Sahib.
Mere interest of witnesses in deceased does not provide reason for disbelieving them. PLJ 1975 Cr.C. (Kar.) 31 State v. Muhammad Alam.
Enmity of election or parties factions: Testimony of such witnesses is reliable. PLD 1973 Lah. 188 Dost Muhammad.
Criminal case against PW. lodged by the accused under section 498, PPC. Held, cannot provide such a strong motive to the witness as to commit perjury in a serious case of murder. (DB) 1976 P.Cr.LJ 82 Muhammad Iqbal.
Servant of an inimical PW cannot be said to be an independent witness. (DB) PLJ 1989 Cr.C. (Kar.) 190. Noor Muhammad Shah.
Tenant of complainant is an interested and partisan witness. (DB) PLJ 1975 Cr.C. (Lah.) 344 Khan Mir Khan etc.
Tenant of deceased's father cannot be branded as an interested witness. (DB) PLJ 1975 Cr.C. (Lah.) 417. Khalid Javed.
Animosity between witnesses' father and the accused, not personally involving the boy witness so as to falsely charge accused appellants and leave out real culprits. Day light occurrence, F.I.R. without delay, and the witness bearing injuries. Held, the High Court rightly found the appellant guilty. (SC) 1976 SCMR 161. Khalil Ahmad.
Enmity with maternal uncle. Maternal uncle of witness deadly inimical to the accused. Held, corroboration needed for such witness. PLJ 1983 SC 174. Manzoor Ahmad.
Not relation witnesses-Truthfulness: The fact that witnesses are not relation witnesses does not mean that they are witnesses of truth. Acid  test of veracity of a witness is the inherent merit of his own statement. (SC) PLD 1969 SC 469 Bashir Ahmed v. Muhammad Azim.
Not related to deceased. Mere fact that the witnesses are not related to the deceased does not make them truthful. (DB) 1975 P.Cr. LJ 933. Mehboob.
Relationship with both parties: P.W. related to the accused as well as deceased. Mere relationship of a prosecution witness with both the parties cannot make him an impartial witness. (SC) PLD 1969 SC 127 Habibullah.
Eye-witnesses closely related to the deceased and inimical to the accused, rule of prudence requires independent corroboration of their evidence. Accused acquitted in case u/s. 302/34 PPC. 1998 SCMR 32, Javed Iqbal.
Close relative of victim, a witness, statement of such witness discarded. (DB) PLD 1971 Lah. 68 Haider etc.
Ocular evidence by sons of deceased and inimical to the accused not accepted without corroboration. (DB) NLR 1990 Cr. 195 Shafi Ullah Khan etc.
Father as eye-witness of murder occurrence relied upon as truthful and natural witness when there was no enmity. (DB) NLR 1990 Cr. 701. Gulzar Khan. etc.
Relationship inter se of witnesses and with the accused would not justify disbelief of their evidence. Court to scrutinise their evidence with caution. 1991 SCMR 1268 Jiand.
Complainant closely related to the accused is not a fact to indicate that it was not possible for him to falsely implicate the accused in murder case which might result in death penalty and it cannot be considered as a strong piece of corroborative evidence. 1992 SCMR 489, Muhammad Usman etc.
Witness members of same family, but deadly enemies of each other. Witnesses from either side against the other are not to be relied upon without independent corroboration. 1985 SCMR 453 Allah Rakha.
Tainted evidence of three eye-witnesses forming basis of conviction. The witnesses standing belied in all material particulars. Several co-accused already acquitted. Such evidence needs independent corroboration. 1984 SCMR 930. Muhammad Iqbal.
Relative of the deceased as eye-witnesses, evidence of such witnesses as a matter of caution not to be believed unless corroborated by some independent source. Accused found in possession of blood-stained tehband and leading to the recovery of decapitated head of the victim. Held, enough corroboration for basing conviction. (SC) 1971 SCMR 412 Hakim Ali.
Mere relationship of witness with deceased would not make him interested or unreliable witness. He had no enmity with the accused and successfully stood the test of cross-examination. Conviction upheld. PLJ 1996 S.C. 153, Nazir Ahmed v. Muhammad Saddiq etc.
Mere fact that the eye-witnesses were related to the deceased and inimical to the appellants would not be sufficient to reject their evidence. Grain has to be sifted from chaff. Convictions maintained. PLJ 1996 SC. 758, Irshad Ahmed etc.
Mere relationship of the witness with the deceased would not discredit him when his statement is consistent and not shaken in cross-examination. 1995 SCMR 900, Bashir Khan.
Mere relationship of the witness to the complainant or other prosecution witness cannot render his evidence unreliable unless it is established that he had motive to falsely implicate the accused. 1995 SCMR 1793, Zakria Khan etc.
Mere relationship of eye-witnesses with deceased or his enmity with the accused does not by itself make a ground for rejecting his evidence, but as a rule of prudence proper scrutiny of his evidence and corroboration is to be looked for before its acceptance. 1993 SCMR 155, Zia Ullah.
Close relative of the deceased as eye-witnesses but their evidence not corroborated by the medical evidence or motive, held conviction cannot be sustained. (DB) NLR 1984 Cr. 256  1996 SCMR 3, Muddassar. Hashmat Ali.
Two eye-witnesses closely related to the deceased require independent corroboration when there is conflict between ocular and medical evidence. (DB) NLR 1984 Cr. 500. Sher Dil etc.
Partisan witness's testimony is not to be relied upon without corroboration as a matter of prudence. PLJ 1983 SC 28. Mehrban v. Abdul Hamid.
Inimical and partisan witnesses: Unsafe to rely on their evidence unless there is independent corroboration. Recovery evidence not free from doubt. Appellant acquitted. (DB) NLR 1982 Cr. 672 (2) Muhammad Tufail.
Partisan witnesses. Mere fact of witnesses being partisan or inimical does not render their testimony ipso facto unreliable. Their veracity is to be determined in overall circumstances of each case. 1981 SCMR 1229. Miro etc.
Eye-witness related to the deceased or being interested could not be expected to support the accused. PLJ 1980 SC 119. Haider Shah v. Syed Muhammad Azam etc.
P.Ws. related inter se and with the deceased. High Court right in holding, that their evidence required corroboration. (SC) 1971 SCMR 500 Muhammad Nawaz v. Abdul Khaliq.
Eye-witness closely related to the deceased, such eye-witnesses cannot be implicitly relied upon without independent corroboration. (DB) 1976 Cr.LJ 243 Manigo. PLJ 1983 SC 207 Ahmed Hayat etc.
Closely related inter se: the evidence on witnesses closely inter-related cannot inspire much confidence. (DB) PLD 1967 Dacca 281 Rukan-ud-Din. 1968 P.Cr.LJ 584.
Closely inter-related and inimical to the accused: The evidence of the witnesses closely related inter se and inimical to the accused is unsafe to rely upon, without independent corroboration. (DB) PLD 1960 Pesh. 141 Abdul Hamid, (DB) PLD 1961 Kar. 179 Jogi and others.
Friend of the deceased; Witnesses, a friend of the deceased not disclosing to any one fore 24 hours that he saw the murder. Not relied on. (SC) PLD 1960 SC 223 Muhammad Sadiq.
Fails to make a report: An eye-witness of the occurrence who fails to make a report of the occurrence is no better than an accomplice. (DB) PLD 1959 Lah. 442 State v. Jamala.
Witnesses related to the deceased would not normally allow real murderer to escape by implicating an innocent person. Evidence  of such witnesses to be scruitinised carefully and not to be rejected on that score. (SC) 1978 SCMR 136. Zar Bahadar.
Witnesses related to the deceased and their statements corroborated by recoveries, conviction upheld. (SC) 1973 SCMR 569 Muhammad Aslam.
Witnesses related to the deceased corroborated by an independent witness relied upon. Minor discrepancies ignored. Partnership in a tubewell does not make a witness interested or partisan. (SC) 1976 SCMR 368 Barkat Ali.
Relation or partisan witnesses; their evidence cannot be rejected unless such witnesses tell lies on material points and their conduct is unnatural. (DB) AIR 1938 Lah. 150 Jawand Singh v. Emperor.
Mere relationship of the witness with the deceased do not make their account of the incident doubtful. (SC) 1968 P.Cr.LJ 1511 Fateh Muhammad etc. 1968 SCMR 878.
Mere relationship of the witness with the deceased is no ground for discarding his evidence. (SC) 1973 SCMR 69 Shamsher etc. 1968 SCMR 993 Ghulam Mustafa 1968 P.Cr.LJ 1552= 1968 SCMR 1392 Muhammad Khan. 1969 SCMR 64 Muhammad Hussain, 1970 SCMR 351 Muhammad Bashir.
Mere relationship of the witnesses with the deceased is not enough to discredit their testimony. Crime committed at mid-night in a room. Persons sleeping there are natural witnesses. (DB) PLD 1962 Lah. 20 Ghaffar (SC) 1972 SCMR 460 Shera etc.
Mere relationship with deceased is no ground for disbelieving the testimony of eye-witnesses. (SC) PLD 1975 SC 160 Mushtaq Ahmed v. Siddiq Ullah. PLJ 1975 SC 61 = 1978 SCMR 136 Zar Bahadar.
Closely related to the deceased: Eye-witness who may be closely related to the deceased but are natural and have no motive to falsely implicate the accused coupled with apprehension of the accused on the spot, supported by recoveries and medical evidence. Conviction can be based on their evidence. (DB) PLJ 1975 Cr.C. (BJ) 48 Hashmat Ali (DB) NLR 1982 Cr. 442. Haji etc.
Real aunt of accused whether independent witness? No particular animosity established or suggested by appellant motivating complainant, their real aunt for falsely implicating them for the murder of their father. Complainant filling revision petition against the accused in High Court and even represented by counsel in Supreme Court, held, such conduct seriously affected her disinterestedness as a witness in the case. PLJ 1982 SC 592. Amin Ullah.
Witness not related and from different community, although not giving correct sequence of shots hitting the deceased yet held to be reliable and unimpeachable. PLJ 1984 SC 27. Muhammad Ali.
Beradari: Mere fact that the witness belonged to the beradari (brotherhood) or caste of the complainant does not make him an interested witness. 1978 P.Cr.Lj 1. Wazeer etc.
Witness from beradari: Mere fact of lambardar, a recovery witness being from beradri of deceased does not discredit his testimony. (SC) PLD 1977 SC 4. Farid v. Aslam etc. PLJ 1977 SC 140.
When no disinterested witness is produced by either side that is the prosecution as well as the defence, the Court has to look at the surrounding circumstances for arriving at a reasonable conclusion; and in the case of two conflicting versions, the version favourable to the accused has to be accepted. PLJ 1994 S.C. 240, Ghulam Hussain.