EXPERTS
SABARI JAYARAMAN
Opinion of third persons
when relevant
Section 39 – 45 – BSA
Section 45- 51- IEA
SECTION 39
Section 39 (1)
• Opinions of experts
• When the court has to form an opinion upon a point of
• Foreign law
• Science/ art
• or any other field
• Identity of handwriting
• Finger impressions
• The opinion of the persons specially skilled in the above mentioned fields become
relevant
• Such specially skilled persons are called as experts
Section 39 (2)
• Opinion of Examiner of Electronic Evidence
• When in a proceeding, the court has to form an opinion on any matter relating to
any information transmitted or stored in any computer resource or any other
electronic or digital form, the opinion of the Examiner of Electronic Evidence
referred to in section 79A of the Information Technology Act is a relevant fact.
• For the purposes of this section, an Examiner of Electronic Evidence shall be an
expert
Cont’d
• Examples
General rule – witness must
state only facts and not opinion
• Opinion as to
Certain issues requires
• Death caused by poison
specialized knowledge, which
• Insanity might be beyond the knowledge
of the court
• Document examination Only court can form an opinion
• Finger prints……
Specially skilled
• Persons with special experience, knowledge, training in a
particular subject to which the courts enquiry relates
• E.g. goldsmith
Medico legal cases
• Nature of the scene
• COD
• TOD
• Skeletal remains examination
Cont’d
• DNA Profiling- identity, paternity…
• Ballistics
• Explosives
• Forensic psychology – victim, witness, accused
• Voice analysis
• Tool marks
• Police Dogs
Unique
KANGALI CHARAN,
1898
Frequency Permanent
Importance
of finger
prints
Classifiable Universal
Inimitable
SECTION 40
Section 40
• Facts bearing upon opinions of experts
• Facts, not otherwise relevant, are relevant if they support or are
inconsistent with the opinions of experts, when such opinions
are relevant
SECTION 41 (1)
• Opinion as to handwriting when relevant
• Court has to form an opinion as to the handwriting or signature
of a particular person
• Any person who is acquainted with the handwriting/ signature of
the person is a relevant
Cont’d
• When a person is said to be acquainted with the handwriting of
another person
• He has seen the other person write
• Received documents written by that person in answer to the documents
written by himself or under his authority and addressed to that person
• In ordinary course of business- he has received documents written by that
person
Section 72
• Comparison of signature, writing or seal with others admitted or proved
• Applies to finger impressions too
• Section 72 enables the court to compare the handwriting in question with
handwriting which is admitted or proved to the handwriting of the said
person in question
• Court can direct the person to write so as to enable the court to compare it
Section 41 (2)
• When the Court has to form an opinion as to the electronic
signature of any person
• The opinion of the Certifying Authority which has issued the
Electronic Signature Certificate is a relevant fact
SECTION 42
SECTION 42
• Opinion as to general custom or right when relevant
• When the Court has to form an opinion as to the existence of any
general custom or right
• The opinions, of persons who would be likely to know of its
existence if it existed, are relevant
• General – Considerable class of people
SECTION 43
Section 43
• Opinion as to usages, tenets
• When the court has to form an opinion on the following
• Usages and tenets of any body of men or family opinions of persons
• Constitution and governance of any religious or having special
means of
charitable foundation
knowledge about
• Meaning of words or terms used in particular them will be
districts or by particular classes of people relevant
SECTION 44
Section 44
• Opinion on relationship, when relevant
• The Court has to form an opinion as to the relationship of one person
to another person
• Opinion of the person must be expressed by his conduct
• Must have special means of knowledge about the relationship
• Can be family members or others
SECTION 45
Section 45
• Grounds of opinion, when relevant
• Whenever the opinion of any living person is relevant, the
grounds on which such opinion is based are also relevant
VALUE OF EXPERT
OPINION
Experts
• Witness- must confine to the facts
• Forming opinion based on the evidence – Judicial function
• For deciding certain issues court may seek the assistance of the
experts with special knowledge and skill in a particular field
• Experts assist the court in arriving at proper conclusions
Important roles of expert
• Many experts visit the crime scene- helps in locating, collecting, preserving
evidences
• Examination of materials in labs
• Works with the given sample
• Collect and record the data- arrive at certain conclusion
• Prepares draft report
• Final report preparation
• Submission of report to court
• Oral testimony before court if needed
Expectations from an expert
• Must not go beyond the observed facts
• Not to be biased, dishonest
• Must not use difficult language, technical terms or jargons- must explain in
simple understandable language
• Report- given must be clear, unambiguous, definite
• Well equipped with latest developments in his field of study
Problems in admissibility of expert
evidence
• Human knowledge is limited and imperfect
• No human is infallible
• Certain techniques used by the expert are unreliable
• Principle of probability(TOD, TOI)
• Misleading testimony by expert
“Facts do not lie, man
• Bias
can and do”
• Might Fabricate the evidence
• Mistake In conducting tests- analysis, comparison and change
Cont’d
• When the eyewitness accounts are consistent, logical, credible
and trustworthy, it will be given primacy over medical evidence
• When the testimony of independent witnesses is duly
corroborated by medical evidence – the credibility is more
BNSS
• Section 176- Procedure for investigation
• Section 329- Reports of certain Government scientific experts.