Evidentiary Value of the Testimony of an Interested Witness

Witness, through ages, has been a key player in the pursuit of justice delivery. The fundamentals of justice necessitate that the truth and impartiality must be quintessence of justice. This brings the role of an onlooker or third party as witness to confirm or report to criminal justice agencies the ingredients of the incident. The sanctity of the statements made by the witness is considered to be correct and factual as they are made under oath. Hence the role of witness has been paramount importance in assisting the course of justice. The purpose of this paper shall be confined to interested witness and deal with the way the courts appreciate and weigh the evidence proffered by such witnesses. Since in a catena of cases, the court has cautioned the Judge to take special care and weigh the evidence of such witnesses with care and caution. But at the same time there have been instances where the court has accepted the evidence without corroboration by any other independent witness. Thus this paper will try to strike a balance between these two lines of thought and try to understand the finer nuances of the appreciation of evidence under the (Indian Evidence Act, 1872).