Saturday, March 30, 2024

Importance of the Evidence act

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Evidence act is essential for proving a civil or criminal case. The evidence act in a case depends on the quality of the evidence, and the verdict in both the civil and criminal cases was pronounced after the evidence.

What is the law of evidence?

Evidence act is the correct rule or procedure for proving the claim of crimes committed in court.

The law which governs the various rules and regulations relating to the conduct of evidence in a court of law is called the Evidence Act.

This law plays an essential role in proving and refuting claims of the plaintiffs and defendants in the trial or hearing of the case in court.

The law deals with how must prove a claim in court, how the evidence is presented, how the court will verify it, and the various rules and regulations, including their relevance and acceptability.

Scope of Evidence Act

In a case, the court usually deals with two things, firstly, to determine the existence or non-existence of the particular event, secondly, to apply the procedural law in the case of the specified event and to declare the rights or responsibilities of the parties by applying the fundamental law to the affected matter.

A case needs to be proved or otherwise established before it can be judged and acted upon.

Whether it is necessary to prove it is a legal question. But with some exceptions, in all cases, it is generally accepted that must prove the fact.

Evidence in the case is the primary basis of evidence. If the testimony is accepted and credible, then the matter is proved. The merits of the testimony will accept the merits of the testimony and how each country’s customary rules determine it.

The matter will be presented in court as a matter for the Evidence Act. Evidence law is a significant branch of procedural law. The absence of this law indefinitely prolongs the trial, and it is the people’s suffering.

Why the Evidence Law is important

Evidence law as a systemic law complements the existing civil and criminal procedure in our country. The procedure for handling a case is described in these two rules of procedure; the Evidence Act discusses the procedure for proving a case.

The law of evidence is so much more important in our context because our Adversarial court system or courts and judges are blind. They do not carry out any investigative activities on their own.

Still, They try to uncover the truth in the tactical statements or documents of the plaintiffs/defendants or the plaintiffs/defendants, which is like blind elephant philosophy in many cases.

Probably a factor as to why they’re doing so poorly. In the Inquisitorial Judiciary, on the other hand, the judge himself tries to uncover the truth through a pre-trial investigation.

Evidence Act in the trial of the case

The Evidence Act, 1872, has been enacted to trial cases of civil and criminal nature. Only for the trial of civil and criminal cases, specific provisions apply simultaneously to civil and criminal cases.

History of Evidence Act

Bangladesh was a province of Pakistan (East Pakistan) born in 1947 in the Indian subcontinent before being born as an independent state in 1971. India was a British colony for about 200 years before that.

The customary evidence law of the Mughal period abolished the customary evidence law of the Mughal period due to the gradual introduction of British law in India instead of the legal system of the Mughal period.

Although the English Evidence Act rules came into use for the presidencies of Kolkata, Bombay (now Mumbai), and Madras (now Chennai) in India, no legislation was passed at that time for the area outside these areas, i.e. for the loose ball area.

As a result, different laws were introduced in British India for different areas. Later the British government started working towards a complete law for the region.

Then different laws are passed at different times. The 5th report of the Third Law Commission, constituted in 1861, submitted on 1868 August, was on the Evidence Act.

In 1868, Sir Henry Maine drafted a bill of evidence. When presented to the Legislative Council, sent it to the Select Committee. However, it was rejected as not suitable for this region.

Then Sir Fitzjames Stephen prepared a new draft bill. In 1871, it was introduced to the Legislative Council.

The Indian Evidence Act, 1872, was passed as a law for the whole of British India on 15 March 1872 and came into force on 1 September 1872.

The law has been in force in Pakistan since 15 August 1947 and later in Bangladesh since 26 March 1971.

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The law is known in Bangladesh as The Evidence Act, 1872 (Act No. 1 of 1872). Later, the Law of Evidence Amendment Act, 1956 added a new section to the copy of the typical record on the duplicate section 64 of the Evidence Act, 1872.

However, it came into force on 15 August 1848. Evidence law is still being developed in Bangladesh through Parliament and courts.

Supplementary Provisions of the Evidence Act

The preamble to the Evidence Act acknowledges that Act 1872 was enacted to consolidate, consolidate, and amend the law in force at that time. However, the Evidence Act of 1872 cannot be called an Exhaustive Code.

It can be seen that apart from the Evidence Act of 1872, there are provisions related to testimony in various other places. For example, Order No. 26 of the Civil Procedure Code for taking evidence or local investigation The civil court has been empowered to search information through.

On the other hand, if we look at the anti-corruption law, we can see several exceptions to the rule of presuming the accused to be innocent before the crime is proved.

Chapter 41 (Sections 509 to 512) of the Criminal Procedure Code contains some rules of evidence.

Bankers Books Evidence Act 1891; Commercial Documents Evidence Act 1939; Laws like The Limitation Act, 1908, (Section 19 & 20), etc. have many provisions regarding evidence.

Importance of Evidence law

Each case has its pros and cons, so the need for evidence to prove the case is immense. The judge decides the matter according to the statements of both parties.

Both parties must help prove or disprove the matter testifying in favor of or against the subject matter determined according to their respective statements.

The parties to the case cannot present evidence on any matter they wish.

There are several rules to follow when presenting evidence. And all these rules are written in the law of evidence.

Evidence is the pillar of the law

The law of evidence is divided into three parts. The first chapter of the first part gives the definition of the application of this law and some of the words used in this law.

Relevance is given in sections 5 to 55 of the second chapter.

Chapters 56 to 100 of the third to sixth chapters of the second part describe the rules of what evidence can be given on the subject matter and the relevant matter.

The remaining five chapters of the third part, from section 101 to section 167, describe how to present evidence.

Conclusion

Thus, from the above discussion, it can be ascertained how important the law of evidence is in criminal or civil cases. The outcome of a case depends on accurate and reliable evidence.

Although the Evidence Act is ancient now, it is still accepted. Various jurists have argued against the law.

References:

  1. ‘Evidence Law: Enforcement and Analysis’ – Imtiaz Ahmed & Mohammed Al Mamun, Sufi Publications “First Edition 2015.”
  2. ‘Evidence Act’ – Aminul Islam, Sufi Publications, “Fourth Edition 2018.”

Read also in Bangla: Click here.

Advocate Shipta Barua
Advocate Shipta Baruahttps://legalhome.org
Shipta Barua has been Completed LL.B(Hon's) from Cox's Bazar International University and completed LL.M in Human Rights at Southern University Bangladesh. Writing and discussion about the critical and important topics of law in his choice. For primary Legal support and enrich to the general people legal knowledge he working in the Legal Home & Advocate at the District & Session Judge Court, Cox's Bazar.

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