investigation, is that, if it is intended to contradict him by the writing, his attention must, before the writing can be proved, be called to those parts of it which are to be used for the purpose of contradicting him. The proviso to S. 162 only enables the accused to make use of such statement to contradict a witness in the manner provided by S. 145 of the Evidence Act. It would be doing violence to the language of the proviso if the said statement be allowed to be used for the purpose of crossexamining a witness within the meaning of the first part of S. 145 of the Evidence Act. The argument that it would not be possible to invoke the second part of S. 145 of the Evidence Act without putting relevant questions under the first part thereof cannot be accepted. The second part of S. 145 of the Evidence Act clearly indicates the simple procedure to be followed. To illustrate : A says in the witness-box that B Stabbed C; before the police he had stated that D stabbed C. His attention can be drawn to that part of the statement made before the police which contradicts his statement in the witness-box. If he admits his previous statement, no further proof is necessary; if he does not admit, the practice generally followed is to admit it subject to proof by the police officer. On the other hand, if the witness is asked “did you say before the police-officer that you saw a gas light?” and he answers yes, and then the statement which does not contain such recital is put to him as contradiction, the procedure involves two fallacies: one is, it enables the accused to elicit by a purpose of cross-examination what the witness stated before the police-officer. If a police-officer did not make record of a witness’s statement, his entire statement could be brought on record. This procedure, therefore, contravenes the express provision of S. 162 of the Code. The second fallacy is that there is no self-contradiction of the primary statement made in the witness-box, for the witness has yet not made on the stand any assertion at all which can serve as the basis. The contradiction, under the section, should be between what a witness asserted in the witness-box and what he stated before the police-officer, and not between what he said he had stated before the policeofficer and what he actually made before him. In such a case the question could not be put at all : only questions to contradict can be put and the question here posed does not contradict; it leads to an answer which is contradicted by the police statement.”
