Analysing the provisions of section 123 and 162 of the Indian Evidence Act the court has to per...........

Indian Evidence Act (IEA) 1872 Examination of Witnesses

Analysing the provisions of section 123 and 162 of the Indian Evidence Act, the court has to perform a balancing exercise and after weighing the one competing aspect of public interest against the other, decide where the balance lies –

If the court comes to the conclusion that, on the balance, the disclosure of the document would cause greater injury to public interest than its non-disclosure, the court would not uphold the objection and allow the document to be disclosed but if, on the other hand, the court finds that the balance between competing public interest lies the other way, the court would not order the disclosure of the document.

If the court comes to the conclusion that, on the balance, the disclosure of the document would cause greater injury to public interest than its non-disclosure, the court would uphold the objection and not allow the document to be disclosed but if, on the other hand, the court finds that the balance between competing public interest lies the other way, the court would order the disclosure of the document.

The balancing between has to be performed by the court even where an objection to the disclosure of the document is taken on the ground that it belongs to a class of documents which are protected irrespective of their contents, because there is no absolute immunity for documents belonging to such class.

Both (b) and (c)

Explanation:

- Section 123 and 162 of the Indian Evidence Act deal with privileged documents and objections to their disclosure in court.

- Option 1: This is incorrect. It states that if disclosure would cause greater injury to public interest, the court would still allow disclosure, which is not what the law provides.

- Option 2: This is correct. If the court finds that disclosure would harm public interest more than non-disclosure, it will uphold the objection and not disclose the document; otherwise, it may order disclosure.

- Option 3: This is also correct. The court must always balance competing interests, even when documents belong to a protected class, as there is no absolute immunity.

- Option 4 (Both (b) and (c)): This is right, as both Option 2 and Option 3 correctly state the law.