Keywords: Preliminary questions, minor witness, trespass, tutor, testify.
On Thursday 6 July the Supreme Court allowed the appeal in a Criminal Appeal. The bench consisting of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Rajesh Binda stressed upon the Judicial officers duty to ask preliminary questions to the minor witness to ascertain if the minor can understand the questions asked to him and is able to give rational answers.
The accused was convicted In Sessions Court for Section 302 – Punishment for murder read with Section 34 – Common Intention of Indian Penal Code and Section 449 And Section 324 of Indian Penal Code .
However subsequently the above conviction was upheld by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The conviction was mostly based on the testimony of a minor witness. The appellant – accused in Apex Court contended that those evidences are not reliable. The learned counsel appearing for appellant submitted that evidences of minor must have to be tested very carefully.
The Court observed that the preliminary examination of the minor in the facts is very sketchy. Only three questions were asked for the minor witness by Sessions Judge. Based on the answers to those questions the Sessions Judge came to conclusion that the witness is able to understand the questions and answer rationally. Three questions were “Q.In which school are you studying in? What is occupation of your father? Q.Should one speak truth or false.”
It further said that the minor witness being tutored can not be ruled out. It is not safe to base the conviction only on testimony.
Court also stated the duty of Trial Judge under Section 118 of Indian Evidence Act, which speaks about ‘Who may testify.’
Name: Manaswini Datar, University: Karnakata State Law University, Semester:8th Task 4
