Accomplice
Full Text
An accomplice shall be a competent witness against an accused person; and a conviction is not illegal if it proceeds upon the corroborated testimony of an accomplice.
Plain English Summary
Declares an accomplice to be a competent witness against an accused, and affirms that a conviction based on their corroborated testimony is legally valid.
Key Legal Elements
- An accomplice is legally recognized as a competent witness against a co-accused.
- A conviction based on an accomplice's testimony is valid and legal if it is corroborated.
- Marks a statutory departure from the old law (IEA Section 133) by explicitly requiring corroboration.
Practical Note
This section represents a monumental shift from Section 133 of the old Indian Evidence Act (IEA). Under the old law, a conviction was not illegal merely because it proceeded on 'uncorroborated' testimony. BSA Section 138 has deleted 'uncorroborated' and replaced it with 'corroborated testimony.' In practice, this statutory change codifies the long-standing judicial rule of prudence as a mandatory rule of law—an accomplice's testimony must be corroborated in material particulars by independent evidence to sustain a conviction.
हिंदी पाठ
सह-अपराधी किसी अभियुक्त व्यक्ति के विरुद्ध एक सक्षम साक्षी होगा; और कोई दोषसिद्धि अवैध नहीं है यदि वह किसी सह-अपराधी की संपुष्ट गवाही (साक्ष्य) के आधार पर होती है।