Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023
Section 152, BSA: Question not to be asked without reasonable grounds
Section 152 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, in the Act's own words, with the Evidence Act provision it replaces.
What it replaces
| BSA provision | Evidence Act provision | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| Section 152 | Section 149 | corresponds |
From the Bureau of Police Research and Development's official comparison summary (source below). The whole table: Evidence Act to BSA.
The section
152. Question not to be asked without reasonable grounds.
No such question as is referred to in section 151 ought to be asked, unless the person asking it has reasonable grounds for thinking that the imputation which it conveys is well-founded. Illustrations (a) An advocate is instructed by another advocate that an important witness is a dacoit. This is a reasonable ground for asking the witness whether he is a dacoit. (b) An advocate is informed by a person in Court that an important witness is a dacoit. The informant, on being questioned by the advocate, gives satisfactory reasons for his statement. This is a reasonable ground for asking the witness whether he is a dacoit. (c) A witness, of whom nothing whatever is known, is asked at random whether he is a dacoit. There are here no reasonable grounds for the question (d) A witness, of whom nothing whatever is known, being questioned as to his mode of life and means of living, gives unsatisfactory answers. This may be a reasonable ground for asking him if he is a dacoit.The text is India Code's consolidated text as loaded into Pundora's statute corpus on 1 September 2026. A section quoted in a draft checked by Pundora is checked against this text.
Sources
- India Code: Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, section 152 (read 1 September 2026)
- Bureau of Police Research and Development: comparison summary, BSA to Evidence Act (read 1 September 2026)