Hindu Law Of Evidence Essay

Witness, through ages, has been a key player in the pursuit of justice delivery. The fundamentals of justice necessitate that the truth and impartiality must be epitome of justice. The sanctity of the statements made by the witness is considered to be correct and factual as they are made under oath. Hence the role of witness has been of paramount importance in assisting the course of justice. Calling of witness to offer his testimony in a case is not a new idea. It was present even in ancient India. Kautilya in his famous work “Arthasastra‟ says: “The parties shall themselves produce who are witnesses and who are not far removed either by time or place. Witnesses who are far away or who will not stir out shall be made to present themselves

The Dharma Sastras go into great details as to the time at which and the ways in which witnesses are to be examined and how they are to be tested. The law-givers lay down that, in disputed case, the truth shall be established by means of witnesses. But there was a sharp distinction between the adduction of oral evidence, in civil matters and criminal offences. ―Ancient Hindu Law as pointed out by the late Mr. B. Gururajah Rao in his little booklet “Ancient Hindu judicature” insisted on high moral qualifications in a witness in civil matters and did not permit any one being picked up from streets or from the court premises and made to depose, as is very often done in the modern Indian courts. The corresponding Latin maxim is that “if a murder happens in a brothel only strumpets can be witnesses.” The courts were held in the mornings and did not work on full moon and new moon days. Before giving evidence, the witnesses had to perform, make a brief sankalpa, face an auspicious direction and then witnesses were exhorted to speak the truth in most solemn appeals to their strongest religious motives. They were ordered to speak the truth on pain of incurring the sin of all degrading