No Minimum Age For Witness Testimony: SC Sentences Man Life Term For Killing Wife

The Supreme Court overruled the Madhya Pradesh High Court pronouncing the husband not guilty as it put aside the statement given by the child. As per reports, the girl was present inside the house when her mother was killed by her father.  

Setting aside the Madhya Pradesh High Court's acquittal order, a bench comprised of the Supreme Court Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra sentenced life imprisonment to the man.  

The bench said, "The only precaution which the court should take while assessing the evidence of a child witness is that such witness must be a reliable one due to the susceptibility of children by their falling prey to tutoring."

The court added, "However, this in no manner means that the evidence of a child must be rejected outrightly at the slightest of discrepancy, rather what is required is that the same is evaluated with great circumspection."

It further said, "Child witnesses are considered as dangerous witnesses as they are pliable and liable to be influenced easily, shaped and molded and as such the courts must rule out the possibility of tutoring. If the courts, after careful scrutiny, find that there is neither any tutoring nor any attempt to use the child witness for ulterior purposes by the prosecution, then the courts must rely on the confidence-inspiring testimony of such a witness in determining the guilt or innocence of the accused. In the absence of any allegations by the accused in this regard, an inference as to whether the child has been tutored or not can be drawn from the contents of his deposition."