अमर शहीद अशफ़ाक़उल्ला ख़ाँ: व्यक्तित्व और कृतित्व (काकोरी के अमर शहीद का जीवन व रचनाएँ)

( 80 )
it would seem probable that they would know each other, at least
by sight, but the evidence does not prove conclusively that they
were there at the same time. Jagannath Prasad also attended
a Tahsili school at Shahjahanpur. He is three years younger
than Ashfaqullah. If he really was acquainted with Ashfaqullah
there appears to be no reason why he should not admit it.
(vii) Dr. Gupta says that although he had only a railway
pass for an inter class compartment he always used to travel
second class. In cross-examination he said 'I still travel some
times second class, sometimes in third and sometimes inter. 10
If the ticket collector demanded it from me, I should have to
pay the difference if I travelled second with an inter class pass.
O. P. 125. I travel second class when I am travelling privately'. Dr. Gupta
is a railway official and railway officials, when travelling by rail
are privileged persons. I see no reason to think that he was not
travelling in a second class compartment. Whether his doing so
would be approved by the railway authorities is another question.
In addition to the above arguments I have been referred to
various discrepancies in the prosecution evidence. None of them
appear to me to be of such importance as to require detailed ex- 20
amination. They are all such as one would naturally expect to
find in a case of this kind when witnesses try to remember after-
wards the order in which they saw or heard things at a time when
they were probably in a state of considerable trepidation. I have
no doubt that the dacoity took place substantially as narrated by
the witnesses.