Weight to be attached to the evidence of trap witnesses.

This is a criminal revision case filed against the conviction and sentence of the learned District Magistrate of Tirunelveli in C.C.No.249 of 1951, and confirmed by the learned Sessions Judge of Tirunelveli in C.A.No.51 of 1952.

The short facts are: On information received from P.W.5, the Circle Inspector of Police, Tirunelveli town (P.W.7), arranged for a raid of the premises bearing door No.41, Kanagaraya Mudukku Street, Tirunelveli Town, which was said to be run as a brothel by the accused in this case, on the night of 15th November 1951. The Circle Inspector (P.W.7) was said to have been accompanied by the Sub-Inspector, Tirunelveli Town, and two search witnesses, of whom P.W.4, the village munsiff is one and another a constable. On reaching the southern end of Kanagaraya Mudukku Street, P.W.7 is said to have met P.W.2, the trap witness in this case. This witness was asked by the Circle Inspector to go to the house of the accused and have sexual congress there with the accused and for this he is said to have been given a marked ten-rupee note. P.W.2 states that he went to the house of the accused and found there the accused and another woman Lakshmi Ammal. This P.W.2 is stated to have known this accused for two years. On being questioned as to why he came there he stated that he wanted to have intercourse with a girl there. The accused is stated to have fixed up the engagement with Lakshmi Ammal for Rs.10 and taken the marked currency note M.O.1 and kept it tucked up in her waist. Then the accused is stated to have told P.W.2 that he should wait for a little while as somebody was inside. While this P.W.2 and Ambujam (accused) and Lakshmi Ammal were sitting there, the Circle Inspector (P.W.7) the Sub-Inspector (not examined), the town village munsiff (P.W.4) and another are stated to have come there. The Circle Inspector asked P.W.2 where the currency note was and P.W.2 is stated to have told the Circle Inspector that it was with the accused. The accused was questioned by the Circle Inspector and she produced M.O.1 from her waist. It is stated that at that juncture another girl inmate of the house Lakshmikutti is stated to have come out from inside the kitchen portion with P.W.3. From the upstairs the Prohibition Sub-Inspector (D.W.1) who is also known to P.W.2 is stated to have come out. P.W.5 is stated to have also met the Circle Inspector when going out of the accused’s house and while the Circle Inspector was coming in from the South Car Street. The stories of P.Ws.3 and 5 and D.W.1 are as follows: P.W.3 states that on the night in question he went to this house of the accused and paid Rs.5 to this accused and had intercourse with Lakshmikutti, that when he was with her he heard a noise and came out and was questioned by the Police and saw the Circle Inspector being given by the accused not only a ten-rupee note referred to above but also five one rupee notes which this witness is stated to have given the accused for the hire of Lakshmikutti, The version of P.W. 5 is that he is a ryot of Sikkalinarasayan village, 1½ miles from Tirunelveli Town, and that on that night when he was coming from his fields he saw the accused with two girls sitting in her house and be hired through accused one of the girls whose name he does not mention and whom he does not identify through accused for Rs.10 and paid that Rs.10 to her and that on getting out he met the Circle Inspector and told him what had happened. The story of D.W.1 is that on the night he saw P.W. 3 going inside this house with a bag and that he suspected that P.W. 3 was carrying contraband liquor and followed him, that P.W.3 told him that himself and his wife, whom he showed as Lakshmikutti, had come there after a cinema show that he had no contraband with him and that he went upstairs to see if anybody was there and as there was no one there came down and met the Circle Inspector. This information is completed by the evidence of two other witnesses, viz., P.W. 1 a