Court witness

vikrant bhardwaj (Querist) 04 May 2012 This query is : Resolved
hello lawyers
plz tell me can a court witness may be declare hostile if no then give me a ruling supporting this and who will cross first from that witness prosecution or defense

Follow Query

Report Abuse

Adv.R.P.Chugh (Expert) 04 May 2012
A witness is said to have become hostile when he fails to put the truth before the court from the side of party sponsoring him.

If a prosecution witness has turned hostile - the prosecutor with the due permission of the court can cross examine him. (S.154 IEA)This is done to discredit the witness and to convince court that no reliance can be placed on his testimony.

However even if a hostile witness is successfully declared hostile and crossed that does not completely wash off his testimony off the record and the believable part of the same can still be relied upon.

The Defence can do the same if its witness had turned hostile.

Satpaul v. Delhi Administration 1976 SC

ajay sethi (Expert) 04 May 2012
well advised by bharat chugh

Dr V. Nageswara Rao (Expert) 05 May 2012
1. The terms "Court Witness" have a special meaning and do not mean a witness examined in a Court by the parties.
2. Only a witness called and examined by parties can be declared as 'hostile witness.
2."Court witness' means a witness called and examined by the Court suo moto under S. 165 of Evidence Act or S. 311 of CrPC or Order X, Rule 2 of CPC in order to discover or to obtain proper proof of relevant facts.
3. S. 165 of Evidence Act does not even confer the right to cross examine such a Court witness as a matter of right.
4. So, there is no question of declaring a Court witness as hostile.

ashutosh mishra (Expert) 05 May 2012
Learned how to catch things.It was
"Court Witness".

Highly obliged to Dr.V Nageswara Rao

Shonee Kapoor (Expert) 05 May 2012
Rightly stated.

Regards,

Shonee Kapoor
harassed.by.498a@gmail.com

Dr V. Nageswara Rao (Expert) 06 May 2012
Thanks to every body. Please go through my 2012 book on Indian Evidence Act published by Butterworths. This is not salesmanship!!!