hostile witnwss
Querist :
Anonymous
(Querist) 05 May 2010
This query is : Resolved
what are the points that a court should consider at the time of declaring a witness 'hostile'?
can a court act arbitrarily in this regard
Uma parameswaran
(Expert) 05 May 2010
Court could not act arbitrarily.The consent of the Advocate ,to whom the witness is adverse is necessary.
Parveen Kr. Aggarwal
(Expert) 05 May 2010
Kerala High Court in "Thankamani vs Prabhakaran" decided on 1 February, 2001
"10. The law does not expect that a party should bring his witness after tutoring. It is not even expected that he should first seek the permission of the witness before citing him or discuss with him the purpose for which he is summoned. In fact, it is the summons issued from the court that makes the witness duty bound to appear before Court. He can come before court with open mind and even totally oblivious of the purpose of his examination in the case concerned. After taking oath he is bound to give true and correct answers to the questions put to him. It is only when the party who summons the witness finds that the witness is not giving a true version that the need for cross-examination would arise. Once that contingency arises, it is for him to make a request to the Court for necessary permission as contemplated under S. 154 of the Evidence Act and if the permission is given the party certainly gets the right to put questions to the witness as allowable in cross-examination albeit the witness was was brought at his own instance.
11. All that is required on the part of the court in such cases, is to endorse, at the relevant portion of the deposition of the witness, within brackets, the fact that the counsel for the witness sought for permission to cross-examine the witness at that stage and that the permission was granted. Further portion of the deposition may be recorded under the heading `cross-examination'. If however, the court, on a consideration of the relevant aspects, deems it fit deny the permission sought for under S. 154; it would be expected to record, briefly, reasons for such decision (Also in the deposition with brackets) and to proceed with the recording of further deposition, if any."
