Order of production and examination of witnesses
Full Text
The order in which witnesses are produced and examined shall be regulated by the law and practice for the time being relating to civil and criminal procedure respectively, and, in the absence of any such law, by the discretion of the Court.
Plain English Summary
Directs that the sequence of presenting and examining witnesses is governed by civil and criminal procedural laws, or by the court's discretion in their absence.
Key Legal Elements
- The sequence of producing and examining witnesses is regulated by civil (CPC) and criminal (CrPC/BNSS) procedural laws.
- If no explicit procedural law exists, court custom and practice govern the order.
- In the absence of established laws and customs, the Court has absolute discretion to regulate the order of witnesses.
Practical Note
This section refers back to standard procedural codes (the Civil Procedure Code, 1908, and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 / CrPC, 1973) to govern trial sequences. For example, the prosecution or plaintiff typically presents their witnesses first. If an advocate wishes to alter the normal sequence of witnesses (e.g., examining an expert witness early due to scheduling constraints), they must apply to the court, which will decide based on the discretion granted by this section.
हिंदी पाठ
साक्षियों को पेश करने और उनकी परीक्षा का क्रम क्रमशः सिविल और दंड प्रक्रिया से संबंधित तत्समय प्रवृत्त विधि और प्रथा द्वारा विनियमित होगा, और ऐसी किसी विधि के अभाव में, न्यायालय के विवेक द्वारा।