Law: Qanun-e-Shahadat (10 of 1984)

Section: 132,133

(a) Qanun-e-Shahadat (10 of 1984)--- ----Arts.132 133---Cross-examination---Cross-examination of co-defendant---Adverse party---Right of cross-examination--- Scope--- Question before Supreme Court was whether a co-defendant could cross-examine the defendant---Held; no special provision exists in the Qanun-e-Shahadat, 1984, for cross-examination of the co-defendant/co-accused’s witnesses, relevant provisions of law are Arts. 132 133, which refer to examination-in-chief and cross-examination of witness by the adverse parties---Article 132(2) of Qanun-e-Shahadat, 1984, postulates that examination of a witness by the adverse party is cross-examination---Article 133(1) of Qanun-e-Shahadat, 1984, refers to cross-examination if the adverse party so desires after the witness is first examined in chief---Said two provisions of Qanun-e-Shahadat, 1984, make it clear that a party has a right of cross-examination if it feels adversely affected---As a general rule, evidence is not legally admissible against a party who at the time evidence was given, had no opportunity to cross-examine the witness who recorded such evidence---No evidence should be read against one who was not given opportunity of testing it by cross-examination---Such would be unjust, unfair and unsafe not to allow a co-defendant to cross-examine a witness called by the other co-defendant whose case was adverse to him, thus later have a right to cross-examine those witnesses---If there is no conflict of interest, then such an opportunity needs not to be given---Condition precedent for giving an opportunity to a co-defendant to cross-examine the other co-defendant is that there should exist conflict of interest between them either from the pleadings or during the course of evidence---Once it is demonstrated that their interests are not common or there is a conflict of interest and evidence has been adduced affecting the interest of co-defendant then the Court cannot rely on that evidence without giving the opportunity of cross-examination to the party affected by it---Person against whom the evidence is given should have opportunity to cross-examine the witness, so that ultimately, truth may emerge, on the…

Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in /home/digixyei/sldsystempk.com/view/master-layout/view_case.php on line 492