Man acquitted in assault case after victims turn hostile

A man accused of injuring three persons with an iron rod has been acquitted by a Delhi court after the victims turned hostile and failed to identify him.
Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Dudeja freed Umaid Ali, a resident of Kabir Nagar in east Delhi, of the charges of attempt to commit culpable homicide and voluntarily causing hurt to Shakil and his two friends Sanjay and Sabir when they were returning home from a dinner in February, 2013.
"Shakil, Sabir and Sanjay are the three material witnesses of the occurrence being the injured/eye witnesses. All of them have turned hostile on the point of identity of the accused," the court said while acquitting Ali.

It said no incriminating evidence could be brought on record against him.
The court noted that as per the prosecution story, Ali was arrested at the instance of Sanjay. However, Sanjay denied this fact in his cross-examination before the court.
According to the police, Shakil had lodged a complaint that on the night of February 2, 2013, when he was returning home with his friends Sanjay and Sabir, he had an altercation with Ali and his accomplice (a juvenile).

Following this, Ali brought an iron rod and hit Shakil and his friends on their heads, it said, adding that all the three victims were taken to a nearby hospital by police officials who were on patrolling duty.

Ali was arrested the next day at the instance of Sanjay while the minor was produced in Juvenile Justice Board.
The court declared the three injured persons as hostile as they resiled from their earlier statements on the point of identity of the accused.
It observed that Shakil, Sanjay and Sabir could neither recall the date and time of the incident nor they could identify Ali.
Shakil, in his cross-examination in the court, said that his signature were taken on a sheet of paper by the police and denied all allegations levelled against Ali.
Similarly, Sabir and Sanjay failed to support the prosecution case and testified on the same lines as that of Shakil, the court noted while acquitting Ali.

"The lengthy cross-examination of Shakil, Sabir and Sanjay has been of no help to the prosecution," the court said.
During the trial, Ali had denied all allegations against him and said he was falsely implicated in the case.