THE INDIAN EVIDENCE ACT, 1872
CHAPTER IX. –– OF WITNESSES
- 118.Who may testify. –– All persons shall be competent to testify unless the Court considers that
they are prevented from understanding the questions put to them, or from giving rational answers to those - questions, by tender years, extreme old age, disease, whether of body or mind, or any other cause of the
- same kind.
- Explanation. –– A lunatic is not incompetent to testify, unless he is prevented by his lunacy from
- understanding the questions put to him and giving rational answers to them.
- 119. Witness unable to communicate verbally. –– A witness who is unable to speak may give his
- evidence in any other manner in which he can make it intelligible, as by writing or by signs; but such
- writing must be written and the signs made in open Court, evidence so given shall be deemed to be oral
- evidence:
- Provided that if the witness is unable to communicate verbally, the Court shall take the assistance of
- an interpreter or a special educator in recording the statement, and such statement shall be video graphed.]
- 120.Parties to civil suit, and their wives or husbands. Husband or wife of person under
criminal trial. –– In all civil proceedings the parties to the suit, and the husband or wife of any party to
the suit, shall be competent witnesses. In criminal proceedings against any person, the husband or wife of
such person, respectively, shall be a competent witness. - 121.Judges and Magistrates. –– No Judge or Magistrate shall, except upon the special order of
some Court to which he is subordinate, be compelled to answer any questions as to his own conduct in
Court as such Judge or Magistrate, or as to anything which came to his knowledge in Court as such Judge
or Magistrate; but he may be examined as to other matters which occurred in his presence whilst he was
so acting.
Illustrations
(a) A, on his trial before the Court of Session, says that a deposition was improperly taken by B, the
Magistrate. B cannot be compelled to answer questions as to this, except upon the special order of a
superior Court.
(b) A is accused before the Court of Session of having given false evidence before B, a Magistrate. B
cannot be asked what A said, except upon the special order of the superior Court.
(c) A is accused before the Court of Session of attempting to murder a police-officer whilst on his
trial before B, a Sessions Judge. B may be examined as to what occurred.- 122.Communications during marriage. –– No person who is or has been married shall be
compelled to disclose any communication made to him during marriage by any person to whom he is or
has been married; nor shall he be permitted to disclose any such communication, unless the person who
made it, or his representative in interest, consents, except in suits between married persons, or
proceedings in which one married person is prosecuted for any crime committed against the other. - 123.Evidence as to affairs of State. –– No one shall be permitted to give any evidence derived
from unpublished official records relating to any affairs of State, except with the permission of the officer
at the head of the department concerned, who shall give or withhold such permission as he thinks fit. - 124.Official communications. –– No public officer shall be compelled to disclose communications
made to him in official confidence, when he considers that the public interests would suffer by the
disclosure. - 125.Information as to commission of offences. –– No Magistrate or police-officer shall be
compelled to say whence he got any information as to the commission of any offence, and no revenueofficer
shall be compelled to say whence he got any information as to the commission of any offence
against the public revenue.
Explanation.–– “Revenue-officer” in this section means any officer employed in or about the business
of any branch of the public revenue.] - 126.Professional communications. –– No barrister, attorney, pleader or vakil shall at any time be
permitted, unless with his client’ sex press consent, to disclose any communication made to him in the
course and for the purpose of his employment as such barrister, pleader, attorney or vakil, by or on behalf
of his client, or to state the contents or condition of any document with which he has become acquainted
in the course and for the purpose of his professional employment or to disclose any advice given by him
to his client in the course and for the purpose of such employment:
Provided that nothing in this section shall protect from disclosure ––
(1) any such communication made in furtherance of any 2[illegal] purpose,
(2) any fact observed by any barrister, pleader, attorney or vakil, in the course of his employment
as such, showing that any crime or fraud has been committed since the commencement of his
employment.
It is immaterial whether the attention of such barrister, 3[pleader], attorney or vakil was or was not
directed to such fact by or on behalf of his client.
Explanation. –– The obligation stated in this section continues after the employment has ceased.
Illustrations
(a) A, a client, says to B, an attorney –– “I have committed forgery and I wish you to defend me.”
As the defence of a man known to be guilty is not a criminal purpose, this communication is
protected from disclosure.
(b) A, a client, says to B, an attorney –– “I wish to obtain possession of property by the use of a
forged deed on which I request you to sue.”
This communication, being made in furtherance of a criminal purpose, is not protected from
disclosure.
(c) A, being charged with embezzlement, retains B, an attorney, to defend him. In the course of the
proceedings, B observes that an entry has been made in A’s account book, charging A with the sum said
to have been embezzled, which entry was not in the book at the commencement of his employment.
- This being a fact observed by B in the course of his employment, showing that a fraud has been
- committed since the commencement of the proceedings, it is not protected from disclosure.
- 127.Section 126 to apply to interpreters, etc. –– The provisions of section 126 shall apply to
interpreters, and the clerks or servants of barristers, pleaders, attorneys and vakils. - 128.Privilege not waived by volunteering evidence. –– If any party to a suit gives evidence therein
at his own instance or otherwise, he shall not be deemed to have consented thereby to such disclosure
as is mentioned in section 126; and, if any party to a suit or proceeding calls any such barrister, - pleader], attorney or vakil as a witness, he shall be deemed to have consented to such disclosure only if
- he questions such barrister, attorney or vakil on matters which, but for such question, he would not be at
- liberty to disclose.
- 129.Confidential communications with legal advisers. –– No one shall be compelled to disclose to
the Court any confidential communication which has taken place between him and his legal professional
adviser, unless he offers himself as a witness, in which case he may be compelled to disclose any such
communications as may appear to the Court necessary to be known in order to explain any evidence
which he has given, but no others. - 130.Production of title-deeds of witness not a party. –– No witness who is not a party to a suit
shall be compelled to produce his title-deeds to any property, or any document in virtue of which he holds
any property as pledge or mortgagee or any document the production of which might tend to criminate
him, unless he has agreed in writing to produce them with the person seeking the production of such
deeds or some person through whom he claims.
131. Production of documents or electronic records which another person, having possession,
could refuse to produce. –– No one shall be compelled to produce documents in his possession or
electronic records under his control, which any other person would be entitled to refuse to produce if they
were in his possession or control, unless such last-mentioned person consents to their production.] - 132.Witness not excused from answering on ground that answer will criminate. –– A witness
shall not be excused from answering any question as to any matter relevant to the matter in issue in any
suit or in any civil or criminal proceeding, upon the ground that the answer to such question will
criminate, or may tend directly or indirectly to criminate, such witness, or that it will expose, or tend
directly or indirectly to expose, such witness to a penalty or forfeiture of any kind:
Proviso. –– Provided that no such answer, which a witness shall be compelled to give, shall subject
him to any arrest or prosecution, or be proved against him in any criminal proceeding, except a
prosecution for giving false evidence by such answer. - 133.Accomplice. –– An accomplice shall be a competent witness against an accused person; and a
conviction is not illegal merely because it proceeds upon the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice. - 134.Number of witnesses. –– No particular number of witnesses shall in any case be required for the
proof of any fact.