The Qualifications of a Witness under the Law of Evidence in Pakistan with Special Focus on Child Witnesses

Abstract

This article deliberates upon the Pakistani jurisprudence regarding a witness’s qualification, especially that of a child witness. The main findings of this article are that there is no fixed age to be a witness although some courts have attached ages to be a witness. The major prerequisite is whether a person has the intellectual capacity to be a witness, whether they are able to understand and appreciate the questions put before him and provide reasonable or logical answers to the same. There is a divergence of views regarding the procedure to be adopted to ascertain the child’s intelligence by the Courts, while others have ruled that the child’s intellectual capacity is irrelevant as long as the evidence fits the facts and circumstances of the case subject to strict scrutiny. Hence, there is a lack of consistency in the jurisprudence regarding the child witnesses. The Courts have also ruled that corroborative evidence is needed to supplement child witness’s testimonies as they are easy targets of potential manipulation. The Courts have also ruled that child witnesses and child victims who are also witnesses must be treated differently, with the latter to be treated more delicately and whose testimony will be accepted even without strict scrutiny provided he is able to withstand the test of cross-examination and recount his experiences. The methodology used in this paper is doctrinal.