Examination-in-chief

Your own witness's evidence — now filed on affidavit before anyone speaks.

Order XVIII Rule 4 CPC; Section 143, Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023

Examination-in-chief is recorded on affidavit, and a witness is examined in chief first, then cross-examined, then re-examined.

It must contain

01An affidavit of evidence — Order XVIII Rule 4(1) — filed at the time the court fixes.
02Only relevant facts. The affidavit stands in place of oral testimony and is confined the same way.
03Every document the witness is to prove, brought in through that witness.
04A copy furnished to the other side, since cross-examination proceeds on it.
05Facts within the witness's own knowledge, deposed as such.

Where it fails

Argument in the affidavit — it is then neither a valid affidavit nor a valid examination-in-chief.
Leaving a document unproved because no witness was asked to speak to it.
Filing further affidavits later without leave, which the court allows only for sufficient cause and by a reasoned order.

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