(J) Evidence Act (1872), S.61 - Document exhibited without any demur whatsoever - Party is precluded from questioning its admissibility at a later stage.
Ordinarily if a party to an action does not object to a document being taken on record and the same is marked as an exhibit, he is estopped and precluded from questioning the admissibility thereof at a later stage. It is, however, trite that a document becomes inadmissible in evidence unless author thereof is examined; the contents thereof cannot be held to have been proved unless he is examined and subjected to cross-examination in a court of law. The document which is otherwise inadmissible cannot be taken in evidence only because no objection to the admissibility thereof was taken. In a criminal case, subject of course, to the shifting of burden depending upon the statutes and/or the decisions of the superiors courts, the right of an accused is protected in terms of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The procedure laid in that behalf, therefore, must be strictly complied with.
MALAY KUMAR GANGULY VS. DR. SUKUMAR MUKHERJEE & ORS.
2009-ALL SCR-2039 (Paras 52, 53)
