This article is written by VINEETA TIWARI LLB (2021),DDU, GORAKHPUR UNIVESITY during her internship Le Droit India.
INTRODUCTION
The examination of witness by the adverse party shall be called CROSS EXAMINATION.In law cross examination , is the interrogation of witness called by one’s opponent. The purpose of cross examination is not simply to attack an adversary , but to strengthen your own case.
Every party has right to cross examine a witness produced by his antagonist , in order to test.Whether the witness has the knowledge of the things he testifies and it is found that the witness had the means and ability to ascertain the facts about which he testifies , then his memory his motives , everythings may be scrutinized by the cross examination.
Examination of witness – under section 135 of Indian Evidence Act , gives the power to the court to command or order in which witness may be produced.
Examination of witness is asking the witness questions regarding relevant facts in the case and recording the statement of witness as evidence .
There are three parts of EXAMINATION OF WITNESS and Section 138 of Indian Evidence Act states that the witness must be examined in the following order-
1.First , the party called witness examines him. This process is called Examination-in-chief as mentioned under section 137 of the Evidence Act.
2.After completion of Examination-in-chief if the opposite party wants to , they can take over the witness and cross question him about his previous answers . The opposite party may ask any question regarding all the relevant facts and not merely the facts dicussed during the Examination- in- chief . The process has been described in section 137 of the act as CROSS EXAMINATION.
3. If the party that called the witness sees the need to examine the witness again after cross examination , they may examine the witness one more time. This has been laid down in re-examination in section 137 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
PRINCIPLES OF CROSS-EXAMINATION
Scriptural basis of cross examination – The method of eliciting the truth by the method of cross-examination is old as human nature . Cross-examination is commonly esteemed the severest test of an advocates skill and perhaps it demand beyond any other of his duties and exercise of ingenuity.
RULES OF CROSS-EXAMINATION
1.“Come to the point as soon as possible”
2.“Do not argue with the witness”
3.Except in case where your position is so bad that nothing can injure it and something may improve it , do not do not speash about and do not ask question without being fairly certain that the answer will be favourable to you.
4. If a witness is manifestly lying , leave him entirely alone, keep calm.
OBJECTIVE OF CROSS EXAMINATION
The objective of cross examination is to get something , no matter how small help your case . To separate the truth from falsehood , more particularly if the truth told by your opposing witness would be of assistant to your case .
CROSS-EXAMINATION OF DIFFERENT TYPE OF WITNESS
1.FALSE WITNESS- A person who deliberately give false testimony is false witness
2.TRUTHFULL WITNESS- The truthful witness has been said to be the most difficult to cross-examine . He believes and intends his evidence to be true .
3.HOSTILE WITNESS- A witness , who is antagonist to the party calling them and being unwilling to tell the truth , may have to be asked leading question.
4. COURT WITNESS – In civil and criminal cases , the judge has the power to summon the witness as a court witness and examine them . They can be cross examined by both the parties as previous in section 165 of Evidence Act.
CONCLUSION
Examination of witness is very important for any case whether it belongs to civil or criminal nature and both the procedural law explain the Examination of witness . Section 135 to 166 of the INDIAN EVIDENCE ACT explain the examination of witness in which act cover the things , like who can first examine the witness during the examination of witness and what are the relevant facts that are accepted during the examination of witness and what are the questions asked by an advocate during the cross examination of witness and what questions are not asked during examination of a witness and at last give the provision related to the power of jury and assessors to asked the question during the examination of witness.
