A makes communication to his wife B that he (A) has murdered C. B (wife) wishes to give evidence of this fact. Can she do so?

Question: A makes communication to his wife B that he (A) has murdered C. B (wife) wishes to give evidence of this fact. Can she do so?

Find the answer to the mains question only on Legal Bites. [A makes communication to his wife B that he (A) has murdered C. B (wife) wishes to give evidence of this fact. Can she do so?]

Answer

Section 122 of the Indian Evidence Act talks about the admissibility of Communications during the marriage.

It states: “No person who is or has been married shall be compelled to disclose any communication made to him during marriage by any person to whom he is or has been married; nor shall he be permitted to disclose any such communication, unless the person who made it, or his representative in interest, consents except in suits between married persons, or proceedings in which one married person is prosecuted for any crime committed against the other.”

Section 122 lays down that a wife or husband may not be compelled to divulge the communication of husband to wife and vice versa. According to the section, any communication during the wedlock by the husband to his wife or by wife to her husband is prevented from being proved in a Court of Law.

The section prohibits the wife or the husband from disclosing the communication between them. It does not prohibit communication to be proved by some other means.

The section says that a husband or wife shall not be compelled to disclose such communication and that they shall not be even permitted to disclose even if he or she volunteers to do so. She will not be permitted to disclose any such communication unless the person who made it or his representative in interest consents.

Even if one of the spouses is willing to disclose a communication, he or she will not be permitted to disclose it unless the person who made it or his representative in interest consents, except in suits or prosecutions between married persons. The consent cannot be implied. It is incumbent upon the court to ask the party against whom the evidence is to be given.

Therefore, in the present case at hand, when A makes communication to his wife while the marriage was subsisting between the two, that A has murdered C. Later, even if the wife B wishes to give evidence of the stated fact by his husband, volunteering to give testimony, she cannot be allowed to do by the virtue of prohibition given under section 122 of the Indian Evidence Act.

---

Important Mains Questions Series for Judiciary, APO & University Exams

1. Law of Evidence Mains Questions Series Part-I
2. Law of Evidence Mains Questions Series Part-II
3. Law of Evidence Mains Questions Series Part-III
4. Law of Evidence Mains Questions Series Part-IV
5. Law of Evidence Mains Questions Series Part-V
6. Law of Evidence Mains Questions Series Part-VI
7. Law of Evidence Mains Questions Series Part-VII
8. Law of Evidence Mains Questions Series Part-VIII
9. Law of Evidence Mains Questions Series Part-IX
10. Law of Evidence Mains Questions Series Part-X