Law of Evidence
The Law of Evidence tests the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA), which replaced the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 from 1 July 2024 while retaining the same conceptual architecture. The examiner tests relevance, admissibility, burden of proof and the examination of witnesses.
Relevance and admissibility
- Res gestae appears in section 6 BSA; admissions in sections 15 to 20; confessions in sections 22 to 24, with the bar on confessions to police officers and the discovery exception.
- Dying declaration is section 26 BSA; expert opinion is section 39; character evidence is generally irrelevant in civil suits except defamation.
Burden of proof
- Sections 104 to 111 BSA allocate the burden; section 105 places the burden of proving a general exception on the accused; section 106 covers facts especially within knowledge; section 108 presumes death after seven years; section 112 presumes legitimacy of a child born during a valid marriage.
Witness examination
- Examination-in-chief, cross-examination and re-examination run from sections 137 to 166; leading questions are barred in chief but permitted on matters not in dispute.
Worked example
A widow dies leaving a thumb-impression dying declaration recorded by a magistrate and a second oral declaration to a neighbour. The defence attacks the magistrate's record. Reasoning: a dying declaration can be the sole basis of conviction if the court is satisfied about the fit mental state, the identity of the declarant and the voluntariness of the statement; multiplicity is not a legal requirement, but inconsistencies between two declarations create reasonable doubt and require corroboration.
Traps
- Treating every admission as a confession; admissions in civil suits bind only the maker in certain conditions.
- Declaring a witness hostile without seeking the court's permission under section 148 BSA.
- Forgetting that the discovery exception validates only the fact discovered, not the entire confessional statement.