Law: Evidence Act (I of 1872)

Section: 45

  Evidence Act (I of 1872)  S. 45-Expert evidence-Handwriting Expert, evidence of-Can not be implicitly relied upon unless corroborated. It is a trite proposition of law that the evidence of the Handwriting Expert is to be taken with caution and cannot be implicitly relied upon unless properly corroborated. Date of bearing : 5th May 1975.                                                                                                                        JUDGMENT The appellant was convicted by the learned Special Judge (Central), Karachi, Camp at Hyderabad, for offences under section 468, P. P. C. read with section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, and sentenced to undergo R. I. for one year and a fine of Rs. 200 or to default to suffer R. I. for two months more. Aggrieved by the judgment of the conviction and sentence, he has come in appeal. 2. The prosecution story in brief is that on 31-8-1967, a money order for Rs. 90 was sent from Peshawar to one Muhammad Iqbal at Wah Cantt. It is alleged that the same money order had reached Hyderabad. where the amount was changed from Rs. 90 to Rs. 160 and even the name of the payee was changed from Muhammad Iqbal to one Israr Ahmed. It appears that for certain reasons the suspicion of the Sub-Postmaster of Latifabad Branch was aroused, and he made a reference to the originating Post Office as well as to the General Post Office at Hyderabad, and when the realities came to light, he sent a report to the S. H. O., Latifabad Police Station. The S. H. O. arranged a trap which was attended by H. C. Nasim Hussain Shah and two mashirs. One Israr Ahmad, a typist in the office of Co Axial Section of Telephone Department, was arrested by the Police -as soon as he had received the money order. Subsequently, the appellant also was apprehended by the Police as he was working as the dealing clerk in the General Post…