Page 22 - Veritas

INTERACTION WITH AN EXPERT

7. What evidence did you encounter the most? And what evidence is the
7. What evidence did you encounter the most? And what evidence is the
most relied upon by the judge and the court?
most relied upon by the judge and the court?
“Witnesses and witness statements. Criminal cases run on witness state-

ments. You can say about 75% of the cases.”

8. If Indian courts are aware of the hostility of eyewitness testimony, what
8. If Indian courts are aware of the hostility of eyewitness testimony , what
have they done to curb the situation?
have they done to curb the situation?
“Judiciary will not be in a position to know when witnesses are going to
turn hostile. At the same time, there cannot be a situation where they can

create a cage for the witnesses to be put in so that there would not be any
sort of external influence that would change their mind later. What I feel

is to make a witness feel safe, there are a lot of witness protection pro-
grams that the courts offer through the legal aid clinic as well. That would

definitely prevent their statement from being changed later due to some
external factor.”

9. How accurate is the representation of court sessions in movies compared
9. How accurate is the representation of court sessions in movies compared
to real-life court sessions?
to real-life court sessions?
“10 percent.”

11. What is your favourite profession? Being a teacher or a lawyer?
11. What is your favourite profession? Being a teacher or a lawyer?
“Being a teacher with the experience of being a lawyer is something that
I treasure the most. Teaching something out of the book anybody can do.

But teaching something from the point of view of the situation that you
are going to land up in, I think a teacher is the only person who is in a po-

sition to do that.”

Myth - Fingerprinting cannot be
done on wet fingerprints.

Fact - Fingerprinting of wet fingerprints
can also be done using a Small Particle

Reagent (SPR).

VERITAS 7