Sections 150 and 151 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872: Court Procedure and Indecent or Scandalous Questions
Sections 150 and 151 formed part of the statutory safeguards governing the examination and cross-examination of witnesses under the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. They controlled questions asked without reasonable grounds and empowered the Court to stop indecent or scandalous questioning.
Section 150 - Procedure of Court when a question is asked without reasonable grounds
Section 150 operated in connection with Section 149, which prohibited asking a question of the kind referred to in Section 148 unless the person asking it had reasonable grounds for thinking that the imputation conveyed by the question was well founded.
Meaning and effect of Section 150
If the Court formed the opinion that such a question had been asked without reasonable grounds, it could, where the question was asked by a barrister, pleader, vakil or attorney, report the circumstances to the High Court or other professional authority having jurisdiction over that legal practitioner.
The provision therefore supplied a professional accountability mechanism. It did not merely regulate whether a witness had to answer; it enabled judicial reporting where a legal practitioner used an imputational question without the reasonable foundation required by the preceding provision.
Section 151 - Indecent and scandalous questions
Meaning and effect of Section 151
The Court could forbid questions or inquiries which it regarded as indecent or scandalous even where they had some bearing on the matter before the Court. The statutory exception applied where the questions related to facts in issue or to matters necessary for determining whether the facts in issue existed.
Section 151 thus balanced the relevance of cross-examination against protection from unnecessarily indecent or scandalous inquiry. A question was not automatically permissible merely because it had some evidentiary bearing; the Court retained express authority to forbid it unless it fell within the statutory necessity described in the section.
How Sections 149, 150 and 151 worked together
Section 149 addressed the foundation for certain imputational questions, Section 150 provided a consequence where such a question was asked without reasonable grounds, and Section 151 separately empowered the Court to forbid indecent or scandalous questions. Read together, these provisions placed judicial control over both the basis and the manner of questioning a witness.
Key distinction between Sections 150 and 151
Section 150 concerned the absence of reasonable grounds for asking the relevant kind of question and permitted reporting of the legal practitioner. Section 151 concerned the indecent or scandalous character of a question or inquiry and authorised the Court to forbid it, subject to the statutory exception for facts in issue or matters necessary to determine them.
Related provision: Section 152
Section 152 complemented these protections by requiring the Court to forbid a question intended to insult or annoy, or a question which, although proper in itself, appeared needlessly offensive in form. This helped distinguish offensive form from the specific rules concerning lack of reasonable grounds and indecent or scandalous subject matter.