The Supreme Court criticized the practice of declaring witnesses hostile merely for minor inconsistencies in their statements, emphasizing that this should be done only in exceptional situations where the witness completely departs from the prosecution's case, gives false testimony, or shows clear hostility towards the party on whose behalf they are testifying.

A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and KV Viswanathan cautioned that courts should not routinely or casually invoke their discretionary powers under Section 154 Evidence Act. (now Section 157 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023) to allow a party to cross-examine its own witness. The Court stressed that such discretion must be exercised only after carefully examining and weighing the surrounding circumstances.

“We are frequen

See Full Page