HC unhappy over treating accused Nidamon Chullet as witness

SHILLONG: The High Court of Meghalaya has taken exception to the stand of the investigating officer, Gilbert A L Marshillong, who is probing the assault case of activists Agnes Kharshiing and Amita Sangma, in projecting the accused Nidamon Chullet as a witness.
The court was hearing the petition of Amita on Monday for a CBI probe into the case.
The Advocate General was not present during the hearing.
One of the counsels for the petitioner, Advocate MF Qureshi, said the court was not happy with the explanation of the investigating officer regarding taking a statement from Nidamon who is an accused in the case.
The irony was regarding the statement under sections 161 and 164 CrPC.
Section 161 is the statement of the witness before the police and 164 before the magistrate.
Qureshi pointed out that the investigating officer took the statement of Nidamon under section 161 CrPC without knowing that the accused cannot be treated as witness.
Qureshi also pointed out that the investigating officer did not bother to probe the conspiracy angle in the assault case.The matter will come up for hearing on February 26.