Position of Child Witness under Indian Evidence Act, 1872 � An Analytical Study

Abstract

A witness is a person who provides testimony before some tribunal. Section 118 of the Indian Evidentiary Act, 1872 describes witness integrity. Therefore, according to this clause, a tender-age child should be allowed to testify if he has analytical capacity to comprehend questions and have logical responses to them. No absolute age is fixed by law in which they are specifically excluded from providing evidence on the ground that they do not understand enough. A child witness's evidence needs to be evaluated more carefully and with greater scrutiny because a child is susceptible to being swayed by what others are telling them and thus a child witness is an easy pickings to tutoring. This article defines witness importance and competency under the Indian Testimony Act. In this paper, the expertise of child witness and the interest of such child witness are addressed analytically with agreed case laws. Lastly, some interesting recommendations for making this arrangement more successful are brought forward.