STATUS AND CHARACTER OF WITNESS

Qanun-e-Shahadat Order 1984; competency of a witness in the light of Holy Quran explained. PLJ 1996 Kar 229. Muhammad Din.
Status of witness: Low status of witness is not sufficient to discredit him.(PC) AIR 1924 PC 106 Waman Ganesh v. Sarubai.
Catamite witness, "though not among the most reliable witnesses", believed in the circumstances of the case with regard to 2 out of 6 accused whom he charged to have committed sodomy on him. (SC) PLD 1967 SC 363 M. Razak etc.
Solitary statement of victim of offence under section 377, PPC believed when there was no enmity. PLJ 1973 Lah. 403 Manzoor Hussain.
Prosecutor statement requires corroboration in rape cases. (SC) PLD 1967 SC 326 Mumtaz Ahmad. PLD 1960 SC 325 Muhammad Abdul Khaliq.
Statement of Prosecutor does not always require corroboration. PLD 1950 Lah. 189. PLD 1963 Pesh. 38 . PLD 1966 Kar. 101. Saleh Muhammad.
Poverty: Many a man is poor because he is honest, and poverty is no ground for discrediting his evidence. (DB) AIR 1938 Lah. 534 Abdul Majeed v. Crown.
Not well to do: Witness not well to do, is no ground for discarding his evidence (DB) PLD 1961 Lah. 561 Muzaffar.
Economic or social status is not a touchstone for credibility, (SC) PLD 1974 SC 87 State v. Rab Nawaz.
Witness, a criminal under police surveillance: Evidence of a criminal under police surveillance should not be accepted without corroboration, specially when produced by police. (DB) AIR 1925 Lah. 397 Nawab v. Crown.
Witness convicted of theft and remained under police surveillance, no ground for holding his evidence as unreliable, (DB) PLD 1962 Lah. 58 Mela etc.
Convicted for murder: Eye-witness alleged to have been once tried or convicted in a murder case is no ground for doubting his veracity. (SC)  1968 SCMR 719 Shafoo.
Convict witness; PW a convict released after serving life sentence; his evidence cannot be preferred over another witness. PLJ 1979 SC 172. Ghulam Safdar etc.
Bad character: A person of bad character can be a reliable witness. (DC) PLD 1971 Kar. 239 Abdul Hakim. (DB) PLD 1985 Lah. 554 Sher Khan etc.
P.Ws. and the accused sailing in the same boat and deriving illegal benefit. No independent corroboration of such P.Ws. Accused acquitted. (SC) 1971 SCMR 276, Jafar Ahmad v. Crown.
Acquitted co-accused should not be called as a witness in order to fill up gaps in prosecution evidence PLJ 1983 FSC 198 Nisar Ahmad.
Unnatural conduct. Unarmed eye-witness running in pursuit of culprits armed with guns. Such behavior runs counter to natural probabilities. Not relied on (SC) 1968 SCMR 161 Mehr Ali.
False implication of one innocent person by witnesses. Evidence of such witnesses rejected outright. (DB) PLD 1958 Lah. 242 Rang Ali. PLD 1972 Lah. 596 Sadiq. (SC) PLD 1963 SC 15 Wasiullah v. Mirza etc.
"Suspect witness" The evidence of a witness who is himself suspected of the crime has got to be corroborated by another evidence. (FB) PLD 1964 Pesh. 288 Muhammad Ayub.
False motive witness. A witness falsified to the extent of motive. Evidence of such witness needs strong and independent corroboration. (DB) PLJ 1974 Cr.C. (Lah.) 84 Akbar Shah.
Alleging false motive, the evidence of such witness requires close scrutiny. 1976 P Cr.LJ 258 Ghulam Muhammad.
False witness. Where the prosecution produces a false witness for the purpose of procuring a conviction, the credibility of the rest of the evidence is also affected and it becomes extremely unsafe to act upon any of the evidences in such a case. (DB) ILR 17 Lah. 460 Abdus Sattar v. Crown.
Formal witnesses. Statements of formal witnesses cannot be given so much importance as to override the evidence of eye-witnesses. NLR 1982 Cr. 481. Muhammad Amin etc.
Unimpeachable source. Ocular evidence in order to carry conviction on capital charge must come from uimpeachable source or must be supported by some strong circumstance. (SC) PLD 1973 (SC) 321 Bagh Ali etc. PLJ 1973 SC 23.
Evidence on capital charge must come from unimpeachable source or supported by strong circumstances removing inherent doubt. (SC) PLD 1963 SC 40 Thoba etc.
Doubtful narration by P.Ws., unless unimpeachable ocular and circumstantial evidence is produced conviction cannot be sustained. Appellants acquitted 1989 SCMR 434. Muhammad Ajmal.
Evidence of unimpeachable character is a must for basing conviction in murder cases. Evidence of partisan witnesses wrought with inherent infirmities is not conducive to safe administration of justice. PLD 1991 S.C. 1090. Muhammad Zarif v. Zulfiqar.
Unimpeachable character: Conviction in a criminal case, particularly on a capital charge, if based on oral evidence must be based on the evidence of witnesses of unimpeachable character that there is no doubt that they are speaking the entire truth. (DB) 1975 P Cr.LJ 1058 Muhammad Aslam etc.