The Admissibility And Weight Of Expert Opinion Under The Indian Evidence Act: A Legal Perspective
- IJLLR Journal
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
Sapavat Teja, Dharmashastra National Law University
INTRODUCTION
The expert opinion as evidence in Indian law is considered as weak evidence, comprehensive in nature, which includes lacuna in law. The experts opinion is accepted based on it’s principle of necessity. If that statement or matter is related to any special field then the court may take the witness testimony of such expert and decide whether such statement is admissible or not for such case. There is no rule or any obligation that if any case deals with the nature of technicality or any special field then it mandatory for the requirement of an experts opinion, it differs from case-to-case and discretion of the judges to seek advisory. If the it’s related to the facts of the case and admissible then such experts opinion is considered as the delegation of judicial function and if not admissible then court may not accept such opinion and state its discretion. In some cases, the court will not consider such person as expert in such field, where it rejects such opinion on this reasoning.
The Experts Opinion has a wider scope to understand the clear meaning. The exception of this rule is that the experts are considered to be witness and their opinion in not binding. The role of the judge is to find the correct interpretation of the witness statement and decide the case. A witness testimony is based on the facts heard, seen and perceived. The general rule is Witness cannot be testified on the opinion at his conclusion and the best evidence rule says that it is one collected through direct source. However, while witness testimony of an expert it is based on the opinion formed from the special knowledge and not on the basis of facts which are in favour of either of the party. The opinion of the expert is not conclusive in nature. And the opinion must be orally given and a report or certificate is not evidence. The expert must be an independent person who have no connection or relation with either of the parties and if so then court will not accept such opinion. The importance of experts opinion is to save the time of judge and deliver fair judgement to protect & promote the justice.
