The most controversial and dilemmatic situation in a judicial process arises when the prosecution witness turn hostile and thus result in the acquittal of the accused even if he has committed a serious crime. That is, they can be asked leading questions, given proof of prior inconsistent statements, and asked questions as to credit. With the leave of the court, an unfavourable witness may be questioned as if being cross-examined. This provision states that any person doing such would be liable for punishment with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine. What is the punishment for hostile witness? These all are terms of English law a hostile witness is described as one who is not desirous of telling the truth at the instances of party calling him and unfavorable Witness is one called by the party to prove a particular fact or issue a relevance to the issue who acts to prove such fact or proves the opposite test. Unlike questioning of friendly witnesses, you are allowed to ask leading questions of hostile witnesses. Here are three strategies to handle a hostile witness, as reported by The Street. ![]() When the attorney calling the witness finds that the answers are contrary to the legal position of his/her client or the witness becomes openly antagonistic, the attorney may request the Judge to declare the witness to be ‘hostile’ or ‘adverse’. What is the reason to declare a witness hostile? technically an “adverse witness” in a trial who is found by the judge to be hostile (adverse) to the position of the party whose attorney is questioning the witness, even though the attorney called the witness to testify on behalf of his/her client.
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