The petitioners are the accused in C.C. No. 2038 of 1957 on the file of the First Class Magistrate, Bangalore. They are accused of an offence under section 302, Indian Penal Code. The case is at the stage of preliminary enquiry.

In the course of the cross-examination of P.W.2, his statement under section 162, Criminal Procedure Code, was marked as Exhibit D-3. Exhibit D-3 was read out to the witness. He was asked as to whether certain facts deposed toby him in Court are found in that statement. By this process the learned Advocate for the accused wanted to establish certain omissions. During the re-examination, the Prosecutor wanted to explain the omissions in question with reference to a further statement made by the witness to the Police during the investigation. This was objected to by the learned counsel for the petitioners. The basis of his objection was that he had contradicted the witness with reference to a statement made by him to the Police on 15th September, 1957 at 7-30 a.m. whereas re-examination referred to the statement made by the same witness to the police at about 3-30 p.m. According to his contention the Police could not make use of this statement as it was a