1991 CriLJ 1235 (EXPERT OPINION)
D R A F T
CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, PATNA
EVIDENCE LAW
R O U G H
“1991 CriLJ 1235 (EXPERT OPINION)”
SUBMITTED TO:-
MRS. MEETA MOHINI,
TEACHER ASSOCIATE
SUBMITTED BY:-
ROHIT KUMAR (1847)
FOURTH SEMESTER
B.B.A., LL.B. (HONS)
SESSION - (2017-2022)
ROUGH DRAFT EVIDENCE LAW 1
1991 CriLJ 1235 (EXPERT OPINION)
INTRODUCTION
Sec. 45 to Sec.51 under Chapter-II of the Indian Evidence Act provide relevancy of opinion of third
persons, which is commonly called in our day to day practice as expert’s opinion. These provisions
are exceptional in nature to the general rule that evidence is to be given of the facts only which are
within the knowledge of a witness. The exception is based on the principle that the court can’t form
opinion on the matters, which are technically complicated and professionally sophisticated, without
assistance of the persons who have acquired special knowledge and skill on those matters.
Conditions for admitting an expert opinion are following:-
a) That the dispute can’t be resolved without expert opinion and
b) That the witness expressing the opinion is really an expert.
Who is an expert?
The definition of an expert may be referred from the provision of Sec.45 of Indian Evidence Act that
an ‘Expert’ means a person who has special knowledge, skill or experience in any of the following----
1) foreign law,
2) science
3) art
4) handwriting or
5) finger impression
and such knowledge has been gathered by him—
a) by practice,
b) observation or
c) proper studies.
For example, medical officer, chemical analyst, explosive expert, ballistic expert, fingerprint expert
etc.
According to Sec.45, the definition of an expert is confined only to the five subjects or fields as
mentioned above. But practically there are some more subjects or fields on which court may seek
opinion an expert.
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1991 CriLJ 1235 (EXPERT OPINION)
An expert witness is one who has devoted time and study to a special branch of learning and thus he
is specially skilled on those points on which he is asked to state his opinion. His evidence on such
points is admissible to enable the court to come to a satisfactory conclusion.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
1. To study the facts and judgement of 1991 CriLJ 1235.
2. To study about expert opinion,
3. To analyse expert opinion wrt. different aspects.
HYPOTHESIS
The researcher is of the opinion that opinion of an expert plays important role in any judgement
given by court.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research methodology adopted in this research paper is purely analytical and socio-legal
approach to the study of the case with citation 1991 CriLJ 1235 related to expert opinions.
LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The researcher intends to cover only few areas related to ‘expert opinions’ which are relevant
to the proposed study.
As study was done within a limited time, the researcher could not select sufficiently large
sample for the study.
TENTATIVE CHAPTERISATION
CHAPTER – I: INTRODUCTION AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
CHAPTER – II: FACTS OF THE CASE
CHAPTER – III: ISSUES OF THE CASE
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1991 CriLJ 1235 (EXPERT OPINION)
CHAPTER – IV: JUDGEMENT
CHAPTER – V: AFTERMATH
CHAPTER – VI: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The researcher has consulted following sources to complete the rough proposal:
Secondary sources:
Secondary sources include books, articles, magazines, journals, websites etc.
ACTS:
The Indian Evidence Act of 1872
BOOKS:
1. Author: Batuk Lal, Evidence Law, Published by Central Law Agency – Edition 22nd,
(2013)
WEBSITES:
1. https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Expert+opinion
2. https://www.vakilno1.com/legal-news/law-relating-expert-opinion-indian-evidence-act.html
3. https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=086e23a9-94de-4bc7-9168-e96a1ba4505b
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