Judgment :-

Swatanter Kumar, J.

1. Settled canons of criminal jurisprudence when applied in their correct perspective, give rise to the following questions for consideration of the Court in the present appeal:

a) Where acts of omission and commission, deliberate or otherwise, are committed by the investigating agency or other significant witnesses instrumental in proving the offence, what approach, in appreciation of evidence, should be adopted?

b) Depending upon the answer to the above, what directions should be issued by the courts of competent jurisdiction?

c) Whenever there is some conflict in the eye-witness version of events and the medical evidence, what effect will it have on the case of the prosecution and what would be the manner in which the Court should appreciate such evidence?

2. The facts giving rise to the questions in the present appeal are that the fields of Gurumukh Singh and Dayal Singh were adjoining in the village Salwati within the limits of Police Station Sittarganj, district Udham Singh Nagar. These fields were separated by a mend (boundary mound). On 8th December, 1985, Gurumukh Singh, the complainant, who was examined as PW2, along with his father Pya