Can i file proofs in court before my hearing date?

Dear Ms.Swati, Greetings of the day. First of all I need certain clarification for better appreciation of your query. Whether if the case is civil or criminal. Otherwise in civil cases when the pleadings (plaint, written statement, Rejoinder, Reply to Interim Applications as well) are complete then the matter reaches the stage of Evidence when the parties to the dispute adduce their evidence.  

In criminal trial as well the Prosecution has to prove its case on merit and can adduce the evidence in its support to corroborate its version and then the opportunity vests with the defence to cross examine and adduce its evidence as well.

I hope this clarifies.

Thanks and best regards

 

Daksh

Here are my two cents on the subject:

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First, what hearing are you talking about? Final arguments? Evidence is a broad subject. Merely submitting it without proper process makes it a worthless piece of paper. You must file your evidence along with your affidavit and get it marked as an Exhibit to be referred to in your written arguments. The best way to do so is to also present it to the opposing party during his/her cross-examination and have the Judge expressly mark it as Exhibit-## in sequence. If you do not follow this procedure then it is not evidence that the court is obliged to consider because the other party did not have an opportunity to rebut it. Makes sense?  Also, there are requirements such as original or certified copies or ones admitted by the opposing party to be genuine. The rule of thumb is just present it to the witness or opposing party and get it marked. If the witness questions the authenticity, then you need to get originals, certified copies, etc. for which the Indian Evidence Act provides guidelines.

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Litigation should be a well-planned process giving consideration to all the what-ifs. How will the witness react? What evidence will the witness present to counter it? All these what-ifs need to be prepared for. Also, you need to strategise how you will be using the evidence in the written arguments.  Taking random steps such as arbitrarily or hurriedly submitting documents at any time can fatally jeopardize your case.  You will be blissfully thinking that your evidence is before the Court when in reality it was reduced to a worthless piece of paper. 

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MODESTY ASIDE, I HOPE THAT THIS POST IS READ BY MANY BECAUSE THE IMPORTANCE OF SUBMITTING EVIDENCE IN A PROPER MANNER IS NOT KNOWN TO MANY. 

Swati, its better to file supporting documents with your affidavit. Those will be termed as evidences only after you exhibit them during the witness prosses. Otherwise, they would not be cosidered for the judgment.

Hi Experts, Read Samir's reply related to adducing evidence and agreed with it....but I am little confused and need guidance.  I PMed Samir and he suggested to throw the query to larger audiance...Kindly find my query below.

DV and 498a case going on in same court and both in wife cross examination stage. In most probability 498a case cross will start first. Now during the case in DV my wife has just submitted her oral/written affidavit as evidence w/o any documentary proofs.

My dilemma : In 498a we will take her cross and show her all the evidences and mark them as exhibits , but she can then put counter evidences if any, in her DV case as she will not file evidence close pursis till then. Judge gives same dates for both cases as both are ditto similar in allegations.

How to stop her further evidences which she can file after I give my evidences?

Also in 498a when I give some documents , and give them copy of evidences , the other witnesses like her father , mother , friends will know of them and will shape their answers accordingly.. I have many evidences like call records or some documents which I feel they are not aware of.

 

my wife on other hand is crying for compromise on each date but with her terms and judge putting pressure on me. 5-6 dates went w/o her cross due to this drama.

 

Experts please guide

I asked you to post it on the forum because it is a very common problem and precisely the one faced by me and possibly by every litigant. It is the cat-and-mouse game... or so it appears. In reality, the true facts come out at the end. As mentioned, evidence is filed with an affidavit based upon which the cross-examination takes place. The other party, lets say you here, offers some counter-evidence to blunt the allegations and evidence in the affidavit. Two things can happen at this point. Your wife can produce MORE evidence to counter your evidence or can wait to present it to you during your cross-examination.  Let us examine both situations. If she produces more evidence during her cross- itself, then you can question her on that MORE evidence and can present still more evidence... The process can go on. 

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Fast forward... Your cross starts. Your wife can now cross you on all the evidence presented by you during her cross as well as the evidence presented by you during your cross and with your affidavit. What if she springs more evidence during your cross that was not presented by her during her cross? Well... this is where you can file an application to recall her as the witness to cross her on the new evidence presented by her during your cross. Get it? The idea is that every person presenting an evidence must make himself/herself available for a cross-examination on that evidence to give it evidentiary force. If you do not recall her and cross her on the new evidence, it will be accepted as presented by her with her accompanying testimony.

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Does all this sound confusing? Let me simplify it:  Any litigant or witness presenting any evidence can be called to the stand subsequent to the presentation of the evidence, but without any delay, to be examined on that evidence. However, if the evidence was presented and the cross is over, it is difficult to recall the witness simply because you forgot to cross him/her on the evidence already presented by him/her.  

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Conclusion: The goal of this otherwise complex-looking procedure is simple: To arrive at the truth by giving all parties an opportunity to present evidence and be questioned on any evidence presented by them.  If you understand this, you will promptly  file your application to recall if a party whose cross is over presents new evidence later.

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So what is the answer to all your questions: Let them present any counter-evidence. If it is false or weak, call or recall them, as the case may be, to the witness box and blunt their evidence. This procedure will go on until all evidence is exhausted. Remember that they can recall you too the moment you file new evidence....

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If you feel stupid that you did not know all this, let me assure you that I was myself in the dark about it during my own litigation and learned it the hard way.  That is the reason that I asked that the PM be posted here so others can benefit. Also, if I am wrong, I REQUEST ADVOCATES TO CORRECT ME BECAUSE IT IS SUCH AN IMPORTANT STAGE IN ANY LITIGATION. 

 

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WHEN YOU CONDUCT A CROSS-EXAMINATION, REMEMBER THAT YOU WANT ANSWERS THAT YOU CAN QUOTE IN YOUR ARGUMENTS. GOOD ADVOCATES WRITE GREAT ARGUMENTS. GREAT ADVOCATES WRITE GOOD ARGUMENTS BEFORE ANY CROSS  IS CONDUCTED SO THEY KNOW PRECISELY WHAT ANSWERS WILL HELP THEM....  

 

Appreciate your time and response Samir.

It would also help if some one can post a sample copy of affidavit we give while producing the evidences.

I am thinking of producing 2 affidavits....First for documents and second for electronic.

Kindly share the drafts if anyone who has filed affidavits successfully.

First thing is that you cannot ride two horses at a time which are going in different directions.  If at all you want her case to be dismissed or to get an acquittal in 498a, you have to challenge the case with the help of evidences in your possession.  You must not think beyond that for the other case, if she is utilising this evidence in her favor for that DV case, you may challenge that case based on your evidences.  Well, if you keep hesitating on each and every issue this way, you may not be able to achieve anything.  Leave it your advocate, he will take care of all these sundry issues.

An important point to be noted when you are facing two litigations against the same opponent. You may think that if you have evidence submitted or admitted by the opponent in one litigation, you can use it right away in the other litigation. That is not the case. You MUST present it to the opponent during his/her cross and get it on the record and have it marked as an Exhibit. This makes the opponent's admitted statements/evidence in the other litigation as if it was admitted/accepted in this litigation.

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My wife (now ex-wife) made several admissions during her cross- in the Family Court and then I simply had to present the transcriptt of her cross- in the Family Court to her during her cross- in a DV litigation that I was defending.  I had to get an Exhibit number associated with it to reference it in my arguments. I learned this the hard way...  Law is so interesting... There is a rationale behind every requirement like the one to have the evidence from another case presented to the witness in the current case. Why? Thats a subject for another discussion.