Anya Nitin Parikh, Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad
ABSTRACT
Child witnesses have constituted a primary part of some of the most controversial type of witnesses. Due to their young age and ability to be influenced, they are believed to be naïve, prone to tutoring along with vulnerable to suggestion. But that should not be translated into their inability to remember instances, especially when so traumatic or that their given evidence is to be dismissed. This paper endeavors to study the concept of child witnesses in India, and the evolution of the same. It strives to reach an in-depth analysis of when child witnesses are accepted, what are the drawbacks that were previously prevailing with respect to child witnesses and what are the mechanisms that can be incorporated to ensure that an honest and dependable testimony is received from them.
