Contours Of Cross-Examination In Arbitration Proceedings

INTRODUCTION

The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (The Act) defines the term cross-examination. Section 137 of the Act defines cross–examination as an examination of the witness by the contesting party. The objective of cross-examination is to establish the accuracy, credibility, and general value of the witness who has already been examined¹ . The primary objective is to ascertain whether the facts are proved to the extent of their correctness by satisfactory and competent evidence² . As per Section 138 of the Act, the order of the examination is that witness shall be first examined-in-chief, then cross[1]examined, and then re-examined. Therefore, cross-examination of a witness is a right endorsed by the Act and is mandatory for proving the fact. A cross-examination is expanded to the whole case and not limited to the examination-in-chief.³ This means that while cross-examining the submissions of a witness, the same can be contradicted not just by the affidavit of the