Indian Evidence Act, 1872
136. Judge to decide as to admissibility of evidence
When either party
proposes to give evidence of any fact, the Judge may ask the party proposing to
give the evidence in what manner the alleged fact, if proved, would be
relevant; and the Judge shall admit the evidence if he thinks that the fact, if
proved, would be relevant, and not otherwise.
If the fact proposed
to be proved is one of which evidence is admissible only upon proof of some
other fact, such last-mentioned fact must be proved before evidence is given of
the fact first mentioned, unless the party undertakes to give proof of such
fact, and the Court is satisfied with such undertaking.
If the relevancy of
one alleged fact depends upon another alleged fact being first proved, the
Judge may, in his discretion, either permit evidence of the first fact to be
given before the second fact is proved, or require evidence to be given of the
second fact before evidence is given of the first fact.
Illustrations
(a) It is proposed to
prove a statement about a relevant fact by a person alleged to be dead, which statement
is relevant under section 32.
The fact that the
person is dead must be proved by the person proposing to prove the statement,
before evidence is given of the statement.
(b) It is proposed to
prove, by a copy, the contents of a document said to be lost.
The fact that the
original is lost must be proved by the person proposing to produce the copy,
before the copy is produced.
(c) A is accused of
receiving stolen property knowing it to have been stolen.
It is to prove that he
denied the possession of the property.
The relevancy of the
denial depends on the identity of the property. The Court may, in its
discretion, either require the property to be identified before the denial of
the possession is proved, or permit the denial of the possession to be proved
before the property is identified.
(d) It is proposed to
prove a fact (A) which is said to have been the cause or effect of a fact in
issue. There are several intermediate facts (B, C and D) which must be shown to
exist before the fact (A) can be regarded as the cause or effect of the fact in
issue. The Court may either permit A to be proved before B, C or D is proved,
or may require proof of B, C and D before permitting proof of A.