New Delhi: holding that the evidence of Children’s Witness It is in the same position as any other witness if the child is competent to testify, the Supreme Court has condemned and sentenced a man to life imprisonment For killing his wife to trust the seven -year daughter’s statement of the couple who witnessed the incident.
A JB Bank JB Pardiwala and Manraj Misra put aside the order of Superior Court of Madhya Pradesh Updating the defendants by discarding the statement of their daughter who was present in the house when her mother was killed.
Children’s witness in the same position as others, but it must be reliable: SC
The Superior Court said that the Law of Evidence does not prescribe any minimum age for a witness, and that the evidence of a child witness cannot be directly rejected.
“The only precaution that the court must take when evaluating the evidence of a witness child is that said witness must be reliable due to the susceptibility of children for their fall in dams to tutorial“The bank said.
However, this in no way means that the evidence of a child must be completely rejected in the least of the discrepancy, rather what is required is that the same is evaluated with great circumspection, “said the bank.
He added: “While appreciating the testimony Of a child witness, the courts must evaluate whether the evidence of such a witness is their voluntary expression and not to the influence of others and if the testimony inspires confidence. ”
When qualifying children’s witnesses as dangerous because they are prone to being influenced, the Apex court said that the courts of first instance should be alert on this aspect when registering the declaration.
He said that there is no rule that requires corroboration of the testimony of a child witness before it is confident that any dependency and insistence of corroboration is only a measure of precaution and prudence that the courts can exercise if it is considered necessary in the facts peculiar and the circumstances of the case.
“Children’s witnesses are considered dangerous witnesses, since they are flexible and can easily influence and molded and, as such, the courts must rule out the possibility of tutoring. If the courts, after careful scrutiny, find that There is no tutoring or attempt to use the child witness for hidden purposes by the Prosecutor’s Office, then the courts must rely on the inspiring testimony of such a witness to Determine the fault or innocence of the accused.