Custom Act, 1962
138B.
Relevancy of Statements Under Certain Circumstances. –
(1)
A statement made and signed by a person before any gazetted officer of customs
during the course of any inquiry or proceeding under this Act shall be
relevant, for the purpose of proving, in any prosecution for an offence under
this Act, the truth of the facts which it contains, -
(a) when the person who made the statement is dead or cannot be found,
or is incapable of giving evidence, or is kept out of the way by the adverse
party, or whose presence cannot be obtained without an amount of delay or
expense which, under the circumstances of the case, the court considers
unreasonable; or
(b) when the person who made the statement is examined as a witness in
the case before the court and the court is of opinion that, having regard to the
circumstances of the case, the statement should be admitted in evidence in the
interests of justice.
(2)
The provisions of sub-section (1) shall, so far as may be, apply in relation to
any proceeding under this Act, other than a proceeding before a court, as they
apply in relation to a proceeding before a court.