640 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Answer to Question 3.
Part I—Effect of the refusal 1. …………… of the party to take oath or make an affirmation. 2. Such refusal only affects the value of the evidence.
Part II—Effect of the failure 1. The evidence remains of the Judge to give oath. admissible.
Obligation to tell the truth remains.
The Provisions of the Oaths Act in India are not so strict as they are in England.
(1) Oath is not a necessary condition precedent for the obligation of telling the truth. It is necessary merely to remind a witness of its sanction.
(2) The Indian Act condones the failure to remind or failure to take oath. The English law makes the evidence inadmissible.
IV. C OURSE OF E XAMINATION
- There are two possible ways in which a witness can depose
(i) By narrating the facts.
(ii) By answering questions put to him.
- The Evidence Act provides that the testimony of a witness shall be taken in the form of Examination, not in the form of a narration. The reasons why the law prefers examination as the mode of giving evidence are to be traced to the rules of relevancy. A person is permitted to give evidence of matters which are relevant. He is not permitted to give evidence of all matters relating to the issue. Matters which are related to the issue are not necessarily relevant to the issue and under the Evidence Act it is the duty of the Judge to decide whether any particular fact is relevant or irrelevant and to rule out their relevant then and there.
If a witness is permitted to give his testimony in the form of a narration two things will happen :—
(i) The witness will in all probability tell all facts relevant as well as related and this introduce irrelevant matter and
(ii) The action that a Judge may be able to take to rule out irrelevant matters will be ex-post facto.