Law of Evidence
Uploaded by
Arya Anil GNYCLaw of Evidence
Uploaded by
Arya Anil GNYCComparative study of
section 6,7,8,9 of Indian
Evidence Act, 1872 /
Doctrine of res gestea /
Relevancy of facts
The word 'relevant' is defined in
section 3 of the Act as "one fact is said
to be relevant to another
when the one is connected with the
other in any of the ways referred to in
the provisions of the
act relating to the relevancy of facts."
Section -6 Relevancy of the facts
forming part of the same
transaction
The facts which are form by part of same
transaction are relevant, whether they
occurred at same time, same place,
different time or different places.
Eg:-whether certain
goods ordered from B were delivered
to A. The goods
were delivered to several
intermediate persons successively.
Each delivery is a relevant
fact.
Doctrine of Res gestae or part of
same transaction
whenever a transaction such as a
contract or a crime,evidence can be
given of
every fact which forms part of the
same transaction. The facts
which surround the happening of an
event are its res gestae. The phrase is
Latin which literally
means, ‘things done.’ And when
translated into English
means “ things said and done in the
course of a transaction”.
Ratten v. The Queen
A man was
prosecuted for the murder of his wife.
His defence was that the
shot went off accidently. There was
evidence to the effect that the
deceases telephone to say:
“Get me the police please”. Before the
operator could connect the police the
caller who spoke in
distress gave her address and the call
suddenly ended. Thereafter the police
came to the house
and found the body of the dead
women. Her call and words she spoke
were held to be relevant as
a part of the same transaction which
brought about the death. Her call in
distress showed that the shooting in question
was intentional
and not accidental. For no victim of an
accident could have
thought of getting the police before
the happening. This then is the utility
of the doctrine of res
gestae. It enables the court to take into
account all the essential details of a
transaction.
Section -7 Facts which are the
occasion, cause or effect of facts
in issue
Facts which are the occasion, cause, or
effect or which constitute the state
of things under which they happened,
or which afforded an
opportunity for their occurrence or
transaction, are relevant.
Eg:-The question is, whether A
murdered B.Marks on the ground,
produced by a
struggle at or near the place where
the murder
was committed, are relevant facts.
Occasion – In R v Richardson the
deceased girl was alone in her cottage
and it was considered
to be an occasion for murder.
Cause – In Indian Airlines v Madhuri
Chowdhry the report by an Enquiry
Commission relating
to an air crash was held to be relevant
as the cause of the accident.
Effects – This may include footprints
or fingerprints on the crime scene or
other such evidence
which is left or stays after the
concerned incident. (See- R v
Richardson)
Opportunity – In R v Donellan (the
accused knew that the deceased take a
certain medicine,which is administered
by his mother,
at certain intervals. The accused used
this as an opportunity
and replaced the bottle of medicine
with that of a poison
State of things – Uncertainty
regarding instant statements and a
false narrative of a prior event was
should be up to the Judge to satisfy
himself that whether the statement
was made in spontaneity
and instantly or is a constructed
narrative and hence, shall be
excluded.
Section -8 Motive, preparation and
previous or subsequent conduct
Any fact is relevant which shows or
constitutes a motive or preparation or
subsequent conduct
Motive
Facts which show a motive are
relevant. The only
condition is that the motive
considered should be of the man who
commits the crime. If a certain
motive can be assigned, its adequacy
is not questioned, only its existence is
enough to prove
concerned facts.
Preparation
Preparation in itself is no crime, but
when accompanied with an offence
committed thereof, it
becomes relevant.
Eg:-
“A is tried for the murder of B by
poison. The fact that, before the death
of B, A procured poison similar to that
which was
administered to B, is relevant.” Here,
procuring of poison is no crime
but when the poison is administered
to murder B, it becomes relevant.
Conduct
Guilty mind begets guilty conduct.
Conduct is taken as evidence because
it is always guided,
before or after, by what one has done.
Queen-Empress v
Abdullah,the facts of which are:
Abdullah had murdered a prostitute,
aged between 15 and 20 years.He had
slit her throat with a
razor but the girl helped identify him
by her conduct which was her hand
gestures agreeing to questions asked.
The defendant
pleaded that this amounted to a
statement, but the learned judge
held it to be subsequent conduct and
prosecuted Abdullah for her murder.
Section -9 Facts necessary to
explain or introduce relevant facts
Facts necessary to explain or
introduce a fact in issue or relevant
fact, or which support or rebut or which
establish the identity of
anything or person whose identity is
relevant, or fix the time or place at
which any fact in issue or relevant
fact happened, or which show the
relation of parties by whom any such
fact was
transacted, are relevant.
Test identification parades
In
Sainudeen v State of Kerala
identification of the accused through
his voice was relevant under this
section. This section also
covers test identification parades (TI
parades). Its utility was explained by
the Supreme Court
in Ramanathan v State of TN stating
that the common and old practice of
lining-up suspects
for identification by eyewitnesses or
by the victim becomes essential where
the identity of the perpetrator is
unknown.