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

( 107 )
an unfair advantage in any way, either by showing the witnesses
one of his photographs or by describing him to them. The pre-
cautions taken by the police to prevent the possibility of the
witnesses seeing him beforehand (and also the possibility of this
allegation being made) were of a most elaborate nature and there
is nothing which suggests bad faith on the part of anyone con-
cerned.
10 115. The other arguments advanced on behalf of Ashfaqullah
can be disposed of more briefly. It has been
(ii) Other arguments. contended in the first place that the whole
trial is vitiated by the fact that the committing magistrate took O. P. 168.
part in the inquiry, in particular by his conducting the identification
proceedings and by accompanying Banarsi Lal to Bichpuri. No
authority whatever has been quoted in support of this contention
and it is in my opinion without any force. On the other side it is
pointed out that under the explanation to section 556 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure no magistrate is personally interested in a case
20 within the meaning of the section by reason only that he has
viewed the place in which an offence is alleged to have been com-
mitted and made an inquiry in connection with the case. As the
proceedings before the magistrate are in the nature of an enquiry
and are not part of the actual trial it is, I think, clear that there
can be no valid objection to the magistrate taking part in the
inquiry before the case comes into his court by conducting iden-
tification proceedings and verifying a confession. Secondly it is
pointed out that none of the documents found with Ashfaqullah
directly connect him with the conspiracy; neither the white nor
30 the yellow leaflet was found with him; and a not very success-
ful attempt has been made to put an innocent construction on
the letters and papers found in his possession or written by
him I need not explain in detail how his counsel has attempted
to explain those passages which prima facie are of an incrimi-
nating nature; it is sufficient to say that I have found his
interpretations far from convincing.
Other points brought to my notice by the defence counsel
are, comparatively speaking, unimportant and can have little
effect on one's general views about the case. It is, for instance,
40 pointed out that Banarsi Lal has not been quite consistent in
his story about the visit of Jogesh Chander Chatterji to Shah-
jahanpur, as to how and where he first met him. It is also
pointed out that he has not been consistent in his story about the O. P. 169.
badmashes who took part in the Bichpuri dacoity. In his confes-
sion he said that they joined the party at Shahbaznagar while in his
statement to the court he suggested that they joined the party at
Sherganj. If the passages are closely examined, however; I think
it will be seen that they are not necessarily discrepant. He saw the