Evidence Act · Chapter IX · Of witnesses

Evidence Act section 132 in the BSA

Evidence Act 132BSA 137

Evidence Act section 132, “Witness not excused from answering on ground that answer will criminate”, is now BSA section 137 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From Evidence Act 132 to BSA 137

Now BSA section 137, with the same rule.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Indian Evidence Act, 1872

Section 132 Witness not excused from answering on ground that answer will criminate

A witness shall not be excused from answering any question as to any matter relevant to the matter in issue in any suit or in any civil or criminal proceeding, upon the ground that the answer to such question will criminate, or may tend directly or indirectly to criminate, such witness, or that it will expose, or tend directly or indirectly to expose, such witness to a penalty or forfeiture of any kind:

Proviso. –– Provided that no such answer, which a witness shall be compelled to give, shall subject him to any arrest or prosecution, or be proved against him in any criminal proceeding, except a prosecution for giving false evidence by such answer.

Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023

Section 137 Witness not excused from answering on ground that answer will criminate

Provided that no such answer, which a witness shall be compelled to give, shall subject him to any arrest or prosecution, or be proved against him in any criminal proceeding, except a prosecution forgiving false evidence by such answer.

The texts are India Code’s. The amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed. The PDFs linked below carry the full history.

Old law or new?

Which one applies to a case

The BSA repealed the Indian Evidence Act from 1 July 2024 (section 170(1)). Any application, trial, inquiry, investigation, proceeding or appeal pending immediately before that date is dealt with under the Evidence Act as it then stood, as if the BSA had not come into force (section 170(2)).