hostile witness
The term is not used in the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam. What the law provides is s.157 BSA (old s.154 Evidence Act): the court may, in its discretion, permit the party calling a witness to put to him any questions that could be put in cross-examination. This permission is what is meant when a witness is “declared hostile”. The party may then confront him with his earlier statement and impeach his credit under s.158 BSA (old s.155).
The common mistake is to think the evidence of a hostile witness is wiped out. It is not. The court may rely on the part of the testimony that is creditworthy and consistent with other evidence; in Khujji (1991) the Supreme Court held that evidence of a witness treated as hostile need not be rejected in its entirety.
Example
Though the eyewitness turned hostile on the identity of the assailant, the court relied on his admission that the deceased was stabbed at the bus stand.
In Indian law
- Sections 157–158, Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (old ss.154–155, Evidence Act, 1872)
- Khujji v. State of Madhya Pradesh, 1991 INSC 153
- Sat Paul v. Delhi Administration, 1975 INSC 233: the evidence of a hostile witness is not wiped out; the court may rely on the part it finds credible
See also
cross-examination · witness · interested witness · falsus in uno falsus in omnibus
Read more in the study notes
- Mediation: meaning, the mediator and essential characteristics (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
- Stages of mediation, models of mediation and code of conduct for mediators (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
- History and evolution of banking in India (Banking Law)
- Transfer of criminal cases (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
- Examination-in-chief, cross-examination and re-examination (Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam)
- Leading questions, lawful questions in cross-examination and compulsion to answer (Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam)