Doctrine of Res Gestae

A scuffle breaks out outside a chai stall in Dadar. Someone in the crowd shouts, he has a knife, and seconds later a man lies bleeding. Weeks afterwards, in court, the shout is reported by a bystander. It was not said by the victim or the accused and it was not said on oath, yet it may be the most honest thing anyone said that night. Can the court listen to it? Section 4 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, the home of the doctrine of res gestae, says it can, if the shout was part of the same transaction.

In two minutes

Under section 4 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, facts that are so connected with a fact in issue or a relevant fact as to form part of the same transaction are relevant, whether they happened at the same time and place or at different times and places.

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