Hostile witness testimony can sustain abetment of bribery when corroborated by reliable independent evidence.

A hostile witness does not render evidence inadmissible under Section 154 of the Indian Evidence Act, and corroborated testimony may still support a conviction for abetment of bribery under Section 165A of the Indian Penal Code. The Court accepted the witness's prompt police report, the contemporaneous statement recorded by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, supporting evidence from the raiding party, and recovery of gold coins from the accused's pocket as reliable corroboration. Those facts were sufficient to establish an attempt to induce substitution of seized articles for money and to prove the ingredients of the offence.

---

---

Issues: Whether the conviction for abetment of bribery under Section 165A of the Indian Penal Code could be sustained when the principal witness had been declared hostile, and whether the evidence on record established the ingredients of the offence.

Analysis: Permission to cross-examine one's own witness under Section 154 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 does not render the witness's evidence inadmissible. A hostile witness's testimony may still be relied upon to the extent it is corroborated by other reliable evidence. Here, the witness's prompt report to the police, the contemporaneous statement recorded by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, the supporting evidence of the raiding party, and the recovery of the gold coins from the appellant's pocket sufficiently corroborated the prosecution case. The facts also showed an attempt by the appellant to induce the witness to substitute the seized articles for money, thereby assisting the escape of the accused in the underlying criminal case.

Conclusion: The conviction was upheld. The hostile nature of the witness did not displace the corroborated prosecution evidence, and the ingredients of abetment under Section 165A of the Indian Penal Code were proved against the appellant.

Final Conclusion: The appeal failed on merits, and the conviction and sentence were left undisturbed.

Ratio Decidendi: The testimony of a hostile witness remains legally usable to the extent it is corroborated by reliable evidence, and such corroborated evidence can sustain a conviction for abetment of bribery.

---