The court held that the evidence of the attesting witnesses cannot be relied on for the purpose of holding that the Will was duly executed and attested, if the court finds that the evidence of the attesting witnesses is not reliable.

( 1 ) THIS appeal, arises out of an order made by the learned District Judge of 24 Parganas on 3-6-1953 granting a probate of an alleged Will of late Ramtaran Banerjee. The caveators are the appellants before us. The appellants Nos. 1 and 2 are the sons of the deceased and the appellants Nos. 3 to 8 are his grand-sons.

( 2 ) RAMTARAN Banerjee, who was during his lifetime a wealthy and influential inhabitant of Calcutta, died on 1-4-1947. He had at the time of his death several sons and grand-sons living. For the purpose of this appeal it would be necessary only to name the four of the said sons, that is to say. Subodh, Sashi, Rajkumar and Sunil and one of the grand-sons, that is. Bijoy. Before his death Ramtaran Banerjee had already made provisions for his children, by executing a number of documents. The scheme of his dispositions was to grant a lease in favour of the children whom he wanted to benefit, and ultimately the reversionary interest which Ramtaran Banerjee had possessed used also to be conveyed. The present will relates to the remainder of the property which Ramtaran Banerjee had at the time when he is said to have executed the said Will. The Will is dated 29-8-1943. It purports to have been witnessed by two persons, namely one Mannathanath Mukherjee and Sambhunath Munshi. I would at this stage refer to some of the characteristics which are to he found in the document which is said to be the last Will of the deceased and is said to have been duly and properly witnessed by the attesting witnesses. The Will is written on ordinary sheets of paper and they contain a number of initials by the deceased. It appears from the said document that when it was originally written by the deceased there were a number of gaps and subsequently those gaps were filled up by the deceased. Some portions of the Will were struck out and some portions re-written. Some of the portions of the Will which were filled up or struck out or re-written were initialed by him but it should be noted that the initials do not appear in all the portions filled up or struck out or re-written. At the bottom of the document there appears a signature of the deceased and under that signature a date is given which is 29-8-1943. It should be mentioned that the deceased at that date was 93 years of age. He died, as I have said on 1-4-1947 at the age of 97 years. With the Will there is a plan attached. The said plan has been referred to in the Will. The plan is of the dwelling house of the deceased and of the adjacent land thereto. In the Will it is mentioned that the deceased wants to partition the said dwelling house in the manner as indicated in the plan. In the plan also, as it is now produced before us, there certain names appear some of which are the names of his sons and one grand-son Bijoy. The Plan is also signed by the deceased and it also bears the same date under it which is appearing in the Will, that is, 29-8-1943. On the plan also there are the signatures of those two very persons who are said to have attested the Will, that is of Manmatha and Sambhu. They appear to have signed the plan as the attesting witnesses thereto. From the intrinsic evidence which is before us it appears that this document must have been written at some time in 1943. It is the common case of both the parties that the writing was completed some time between January and June, 1943. It should be noted that there are draft Wills of the deceased which too are not signed. They also seem to have been written some time in 1943 as it appears from the intrinsic evidence contained therein.

( 3 ) IT is not disputed before us that the entire Will was in the handwriting of the deceased including the portions which had been filled up. It is also admitted before us by both the parties that the initials are the initials of the deceased and so also the signature appearing at the foot of the Will.

( 4 ) ONE of the main questions in this appeal is whether or not the sig