A excellent most important free guide for successful cross examination in the court.

Every Advocate should know the good procedure of the cross examination. 

Every day many numbers of complaints and cases are filed in civil as well as criminal courts but justice is delayed because of growth of pendency of cases in the courts.

Cross-examination of witnesses has an important role in the presentation of evidence in the court of law irrespective of civil or criminal case. Acceptability of evidence is also playing an important role which is decided by the judges only. Judges will look each case clearly and it will take more time to pass the judgment in the court.

Under Section 137 of ‘Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the Cross examination of a witnesses can be classified into three types. 

• First is examination-in-chief which means that the examination of a witness by the party who calls him shall be called his examination-in-chief.

• Second type is Cross-Examination which means that the examination of witness by the adverse party shall be called his cross-examination.

• Re-Examination means that the examination of a witness, succeeding to the cross-examination by the party who called him or shall be called.

Art of Cross-Examination is a classic text for trial attorneys and law students on how to cross-examine the witness.  It plays an important role to provide justice to the clients during the trial of each case. Cross-examination involves the hard work and talent of lawyers. A lawyer should learn the art of Cross-Examination not by reading trial and transcripts or by personally conducting the examination.

The main aim of cross-examination is to elicit favorable facts from the witness or to accuse the credibility of the appearing witness to reduce the weight of unfavorable testimony. It frequently produces critical evidence in trials, particularly if a witness contradicts previous testimony.

Cross-Examination is mainly to find out the truth and detection of the lie in testimony. Cross-examination is used to either abolish or weaken the power of evidence which is already anticipated by a witness. It is the duty of a lawyer towards his client to do a better cross-examination it is not a matter of glory and fame.

Cross-examination is the best way to discover the truth and to find out the false statements of the witness. It is important to remember that the Justice should not be denied by the improper Cross-Examination.

The purpose of Cross-Examination includes asking questions about what the witness has stated in the Examination-in-chief and the reply by the witness to the question put by the advocate.

The lawyer should clearly go through those points which they wish to ask before initiating Cross-Examination of the witness. Later lawyers can write down those points. These points can be discussed with those who are supporting them in the trial. Persistence is the key of Cross-Examination and judges should give chance to every party to Cross-Examine the witness of opposite party.

It is an old rule to ask leading questions like is that correct? or isn’t it a fact etc. during the time of Cross-Examining of the witness. These questions are most effective because they basically allow the witness to ratify and Cross-Examiner to testify Another technique in the courtroom is control.  By asking leading questions the Cross-Examiner will be more forceful, fearless, knowledgeable and informative.Sometimes these leading questions can be tiresome. The questions should be asked as per Section 146 of Indian Evidence Act in 1872.

Some important points to be considered in the cross-examinations are to find the cause which made the witness to alter or amend his evidence , to modify the evidence given under the chief  examiner, by causing the witness to speak about the additional facts to show the reasons and circumstances,  causing witness to give further evidence from reasons arising out of his evidence.

The supreme power to decide when to recall the witness for the Cross-Examination lies on the court and it is based upon the facts and circumstances of a specific case. In the case of Cross-Examination, every party has given a fair deal and summary procedure does not take away the rights of the parties to Cross-Examination.

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