Is cross examination mandatory?
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Is cross examination mandatory?
According to Section 137 of the Indian Evidence Act, the examination of a witness by the adverse party shall be called his cross-examination. Thus the provisions imbibed in section 138 of Indian Evidence Act is not only a technical rule but it is a rule of essential justice.
What happens during a cross examination?
The concept of cross-examination is that the lawyer is supposed to control the witness and force the witness to answer questions harmful to an adversary's case. When you ask an open-ended question, or a question where you do not know what the answer will be, the witness may hit that question out of the ballpark.
What happens if a lawyer withholds evidence?
Spoliation has three possible consequences: in jurisdictions where the (intentional) act is criminal by statute, it may result in fines and incarceration (if convicted in a separate criminal proceeding) for the parties who engaged in the spoliation; in jurisdictions where relevant case law precedent has been