KSLU Corner™ New AIBE previous QP

Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam

Semester 6 · 26 topics in 5 units

Past question papers for Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam

Unit I 4 topics

  1. Introduction to the law of evidence and its central conceptionsWhy evidence is adjective law, how it applies in civil and criminal cases, what the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam changed, and the definitions in section 2: fact, facts in issue, relevant, evidence, document, proved, disproved, not proved, may presume, shall presume and conclusive proof.7 min
  2. Res gestae, motive, conduct, identification, conspiracy and alibi (sections 4 to 9)The closely connected facts in sections 4 to 9: the same transaction, occasion and cause, motive, preparation and conduct, explanatory facts and test identification, statements of conspirators, and the plea of alibi.8 min
  3. Damages, custom, state of mind, similar facts and course of business (sections 10 to 14)The remaining closely connected facts: facts bearing on damages, on rights and customs, on intention and knowledge, on whether an act was accidental, and on course of business, with the rule against proving propensity by similar facts.6 min
  4. Admissions: definition, persons whose admissions are relevant, and evidentiary valueWhat an admission is under section 15, whose statements count as admissions (sections 16 to 18), when a party may prove his own admission (section 19), oral admissions about documents, without-prejudice admissions in civil cases, and why admissions are not conclusive (section 25).6 min

Unit II 6 topics

  1. Confessions: meaning, forms, voluntariness and confessions to the policeWhat counts as a confession after Pakala Narayana Swami and Palvinder Kaur, judicial and extra-judicial confessions, the voluntariness test in section 22, the bar on confessions to police and in police custody in section 23, and retracted confessions.7 min
  2. Information leading to discovery and confession of a co-accused (sections 23 proviso and 24)How much of a statement by an accused in police custody can be proved when it leads to discovery (the proviso to section 23(2), old s.27), Pulukuri Kottaya on 'fact discovered', the Article 20(3) cases, and the limited use of a co-accused's confession under section 24.6 min
  3. Dying declarations (section 26(a))Why a dead person's statement about the cause of death is admitted, how the Indian rule differs from the English one, the 'circumstances of the transaction' test from Pakala Narayana Swami, and the judicial standards for relying on a dying declaration from Khushal Rao to Laxman.6 min
  4. Other statements by persons who cannot be called, former evidence, and statements in special circumstances (sections 26(b) to (h), 27 to 33)The remaining hearsay exceptions in section 26, evidence given in an earlier proceeding (section 27), and the statements in special circumstances: account books, public records, maps, Gazettes, law reports and how much of a statement is proved.6 min
  5. Relevance of judgments of courts (sections 34 to 38)The general rule that a judgment binds only the parties, and its exceptions: judgments that bar a second suit or trial, judgments in rem, judgments on matters of a public nature, judgments relevant as facts in issue, and the right to show fraud, collusion or incompetence.5 min
  6. Opinions of third persons: experts, handwriting, the Examiner of Electronic Evidence, custom and relationship (sections 39 to 45)Why opinion is generally excluded and when it is let in: who is an expert under section 39, the Examiner of Electronic Evidence, the weight of medical and handwriting opinion, opinions of persons acquainted with handwriting, and opinions on custom, usage and relationship.6 min

Unit III 4 topics

  1. Character evidence in civil and criminal cases (sections 46 to 50)When character is relevant: irrelevant to prove conduct in civil cases, good character of the accused relevant, bad character irrelevant except in reply, the bar on the victim's character in sexual offence cases, character affecting damages, and what 'character' means.6 min
  2. Facts which need not be proved, and oral evidence (sections 51 to 55)Judicial notice under sections 51 and 52, including laws with extra-territorial operation, facts admitted at or before the hearing under section 53, and the rule in sections 54 and 55 that oral evidence must be direct, with its exceptions.6 min
  3. Documentary evidence: primary and secondary evidence, and electronic and digital records (sections 56 to 63)Primary and secondary evidence, the cases in which secondary evidence is admissible, electronic records as primary evidence under the new Explanations to section 57, the section 63 certificate after Anvar and Arjun Panditrao, and tape-recorded conversations.8 min
  4. Proof of documents, public and private documents, presumptions as to documents, and exclusion of oral by documentary evidence (sections 64 to 103)Notice to produce, proof of signature, handwriting and attested documents, public and private documents and certified copies, the presumptions as to documents including thirty-year-old documents and electronic records, and the rules in sections 94 to 103 that keep oral evidence from varying a written instrument.8 min

Unit IV 5 topics

  1. Burden of proof: the general rulesOnus probandi under sections 104 to 107 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam: who must prove, the legal and evidential burden, how the onus shifts, and the different standards in civil and criminal cases, with Addagada Raghavamma and Rangammal.7 min
  2. Burden of proof: exceptions, special knowledge and statutory shiftsSections 108 to 115 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam: the accused's burden to prove a General Exception (Nanavati, Dahyabhai), facts especially within knowledge (Shambu Nath Mehra, Trimukh Maroti Kirkan), presumptions of life and death, relationship, ownership and good faith, with the ticketless traveller and provocation problems.8 min
  3. Presumptions, judicial notice and presumption of legitimacyWhy the law presumes, the three grades of presumption, the general presumption in section 119, judicial notice under sections 51 to 53, and the conclusive presumption of legitimacy in section 116 from Goutam Kundu to Ivan Rathinam, with the widow's remarriage problem.8 min
  4. Presumptions in dowry death, abetment of suicide and rapeThe three offence-specific presumptions in sections 117, 118 and 120 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam: abetment of suicide by a married woman, dowry death and 'soon before' from Kans Raj to Satbir Singh, and absence of consent in aggravated rape after the Mathura case, with the suicide-note problem.7 min
  5. EstoppelEstoppel under sections 121 to 123 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam: its essentials and rationale, kinds of estoppel, estoppel distinguished from res judicata, waiver and presumption, equitable and promissory estoppel, and the estoppel of tenant, licensee, acceptor and bailee.8 min

Unit V 7 topics

  1. Competency of witnesses and the child witnessWho may testify under sections 124 to 127 and 139 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam: the test of rational understanding, child witnesses from Rameshwar to Pradeep, persons of unsound mind, witnesses unable to speak, spouses, the accused and Judges, and the rule that evidence is weighed, not counted.7 min
  2. Privileged communicationsSections 128 to 137 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam: marital communications (M.C. Verghese), affairs of State and official confidence (Sodhi Sukhdev Singh, Raj Narain), sources of information, advocate and client, legal advisers, title deeds, and the witness who must answer incriminating questions, with the Sita and Ram and the 'defend me for murder' problems.8 min
  3. Accomplice, approver and corroborationSection 138 and illustration (b) to section 119 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam read together, the approver under sections 343 to 345 BNSS, the nature of corroboration from Baskerville to K. Hashim, and corroboration of witnesses under sections 159 and 160.7 min
  4. Examination-in-chief, cross-examination and re-examinationThe order and scope of the three stages of examination under sections 140 to 145 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, their objects, the Judge's control of admissibility under section 141 and his power to put questions under section 168 (Ram Chander, Zahira Sheikh), with recall under section 348 BNSS.6 min
  5. Leading questions, lawful questions in cross-examination and compulsion to answerLeading questions under section 146 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (Varkey Joseph), the questions lawful in cross-examination under section 149 and the bar on questions about a rape victim's character, when a witness must answer (sections 137, 150, 151), forbidden questions (sections 152 to 155) and the finality of answers on credit (section 156).7 min
  6. Hostile witness and impeaching the credit of a witnessSection 157 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam on questions by a party to his own witness, the value of hostile evidence from Sat Pal and Bhagwan Singh to Vinod Kumar, contradiction by previous statements under section 148 and section 181 BNSS (Tahsildar Singh), and the modes of impeaching credit in section 158, with the hostile rape witness problem.7 min
  7. Refreshing memory, production of documents and improper admission or rejection of evidenceThe closing sections of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam: refreshing memory and testimony from records (sections 162 to 164), production of documents and notice to produce (sections 165 to 167), and why improper admission or rejection of evidence is not by itself a ground for a new trial (section 169, Venkatachala Gounder).7 min