Introduction
In the law of evidence, ‘relevancy of facts’ can be
considered as a tool to identify facts, appropriate to the case, from a
plethora of them. These facts are called ‘Facts in Issue’ and help in steering
the case towards a justifiable judgment. Only through evidence can they be
proved and evidence has been defined as: All statements which the Court permits
or requires to be made before it by witnesses, in relation to matters of fact
under inquiry; such statements are called oral evidence and All documents
including electronic records produced for the inspection of the Court; such
documents are called documentary evidence.
Fact-finding is the job of a person or group of persons in a
judicial or administrative proceeding that has or has the responsibility of
determining the facts relevant to decide a controversy. Not everything holds value in the
court of law, only certain events, and physical or abstract that is brought to
court’s notice, through legal means, hold relevancy. Every event is a fact in
itself and is made up of a number of facts. The law of Evidence was developed
to chalk out the rule and principles to prove “facts.” The legal meaning of
fact, as under the Evidence Act: Anything, state of things, or relation of
things, capable of being perceived by the senses; and Any mental condition of
which any person is conscious.
This Latin term
means, ‘things done.’ It is adopted from the English doctrine offers gestate, though
the term is not used directly in Section 6 of the act, it is applied in law, As
Peter Murphy puts it, “To state a fact or event in isolation without reference
to its antecedents in time, place or surrounding circumstances, may render the
fact, difficult or even impossible to comprehend.” Hence, supporting facts are
used to prove or give meaning to the facts in issue and these forms the part of res gestate. It
is an exception to hearsay evidence.
Relevant facts could include both acts and omissions, and
they could be isolated or contiguous but they should form a part of the
transaction in question. In Milne
v Leisler (7 H.&N. 796: 126 RR 704), the fact that the contractor
wrote a letter to his broker to make enquiries was held to be a part of res gestae; in
deciding whether a contract was made as an agent or in a personal capacity.
Uncertainty regarding instant statements and a false
narrative of a detached prior event was cleared in the case of Ratten v Reginam (3 All ER
801), where Lord
Wilberforce said that it should be up to the Judge to satisfy himself that
whether the statement was made in spontaneity and instantly or is a constructed
narrative and hence, shall be excluded.
Relevancy of Fact
Relevancy of facts forming part of same transaction, Facts which, though
not in issue, are so connected with a fact in
issue as to form part of the same transaction, are relevant, whether they
occurred at the same time and place or at different times and places. Each
delivery is a relevant fact..
A fact that
is raised by the pleadings directly and is necessary to be determined by the
decision so that it will become res judicator —distinguished from fact in controversy
— compare issue of law.
In law, a question of fact, also known as a point of fact, is a question that must be
answered by reference to facts and evidence as well as inferences arising from
those facts. Such a question is distinct from a question of law, which must be answered by applying relevant legal principles.
Evidence Act Provisions Regarding - Relevancy of Fact
(i) When facts have been declared to be legally relevant under I.E. Act, they become admissible. (ii) It
is founded on law not on logic.
For practical purpose, relevant fact means
what is legally admissible in evidence. Only the evidence which is
legally admissible should be received by the court.
Evidence to Prove Conspiracy
This part covers the following sections:
Section 10
This section states that whenever there is a reasonable
ground to believe that two or more persons have conspired and a co-conspirator
says, does or writes something, the evidence is relevant on a condition that the
act must have a reference to their common intention. It is important to have a
reasonable ground because conspiring against the government or nation is itself
a crime.
Section 11
It gives relevancy to those facts which are irrelevant as
such but become relevant because they are inconsistent with relevant facts and
their existence in themselves or in connection with other facts make some fact
in issue or a relevant fact highly probable or improbable. In Dudh Nath Pandey v State of UP
(1981 2 SCC 166), the
Supreme Court said that the plea of alibi must be proved with absolute
certainty, so as to make the presence of accused at the crime scene,
impossible. In Baij Lal v
Ram Pratap (AIR 1982 Delhi 149), a
seller divided his land in two and sold it in two different transactions to two
different persons. The court held that the first sale deed will be considered
and it was highly probable that the rest of the land was intended to be sold to
the second buyer.
Section 12
As civil cases are not dealt with as seriously as the
criminal cases, this section gives relevancy to any fact which will enable the
court to determine the amount of damages to be awarded.
Section 13
This section was laid out to consider facts when a custom or
a right is in question. Facts and evidence regarding the origin, modification,
assertion, claiming or denial of a custom and those instances where the custom
or right was practised, recognized, claimed or denied are admissible.
Section 14
Section 14 is of importance as it accepts mental or bodily
feelings as relevant. Mens rea or intention forms an important ingredient of a
crime and hence, plays a vital role in determining the extent of liability of
an accused. It leaves the finding out of mental or bodily feeling at the
discretion of the court since it is impossible to find out what a man is
thinking. It could be found out by other related facts and could help in
proving intention, negligence or innocence. In Emperor v Wahiddin
Hamiddin (1929 32 Bombay LR 324), the
Bombay high court held that tendency to commit thefts could not prove an
intention to commit dacoity or conspiring to commit dacoity. Previous
convictions are excluded as evidence under Section 54 of the act but if the
same offence is repeated, again and again, it may lay a ground for clearing the
intention of the accused, as was held in Emperor
v Allcomiya Husan (1903 ILR 28 Bombay 129).
Evidence of Similar Facts
The general principle is to exclude the evidence of similar
facts or past prosecution (as stated above), this principle is applied as an
exception, only in those cases where there is a striking similarity between the
fact on which the case is based and the fact of which the evidence is offered.
Section 15
Through this section, the court establishes whether an act is
incidental or accidental. This is done by checking whether such event was a
part of similar occurrences and in each, the person concerned was executing the
act. This was rightly explained in the case of R v Smith (1915 11 Cr App
233): If you find
an accident which benefits a person and you find that the person has been
sufficiently fortunate to have the accident happened to him a number of times,
benefitting him each time, you draw a very strong, frequently an irresistible
inference, that the occurrence of so many accidents benefitting him is such a
coincidence that it cannot have happened unless it was designed.
Section 16
“When there is a question whether a particular act was done,
the existence of any course of business, according to which it naturally would
have been done, is a relevant fact.” This attaches evidentiary value to a
normal course of business as people adhere to their routine of business and
officials to the routine of office.
Offence and Punishment
Act, any Court of competent jurisdiction may compound offences, other than offences for which the punishment for life
or imprisonment for a term exceeding three years has been provided under the
Act. The person alleged of an offence under this Act may file an application
for compounding in the Court.
Punishment is the
imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or individual,
meted out by an authority in
contexts ranging from child
discipline to criminal
law as a response and deterrent to a particular action or behavior that is deemed undesirable or
unacceptable. The reasoning may be to condition a child to avoid
self-endangerment, to impose social conformity (in particular, in the contexts of compulsory education or military discipline), to defend norms,
to protect against future harms (in particular, those from violent
crime), and to maintain the law and respect for rule of
law under which the social group is governed. Punishment may be
self-inflicted as with self-flagellation and mortification of the flesh in the religious setting, but is most
often a form of social coercion.
The unpleasant
imposition may include a fine, penalty,
or confinement,
or be the removal or denial of something pleasant or desirable. The individual
may be a person, or even an animal. The authority may be either a group or a
single person, and punishment may be carried out formally under a system of law or informally in other kinds of social
settings such as within a family. Negative consequences that are not authorized
or that are administered without a breach of rules are not considered to be
punishment as defined here. The study and practice of the punishment of crimes, particularly
as it applies to imprisonment, is called penology, or,
often in modern texts, corrections; in this context, the punishment process is
euphemistically called "correctional process" .Research into
punishment often includes similar research into prevention.
Incapacitation. The last could include
such measures as isolation, in order to prevent the wrongdoer's having contact
with potential victims, or the removal of a hand in order to make theft more
difficult. Of the four justifications, only retribution is part of the
definition of punishment and none of the other justifications is a guaranteed
outcome, aside from obvious exceptions such as an executed man being
incapacitated with regard to further crimes.\
Punishment for
offences
Whoever commits any offence described in column 1 of the Table below
shall, in addition to and not in derogation of any punishment to which he may
be liable under any other law, be liable to the punishment mentioned against
that offence in column 2 thereof:-
If any person contravenes any provision of this Act or any rule made there under, or abets any such contravention or fails to comply with any provision of this Act or any such rule with which it was his duty to comply, where no express penalty has been provided elsewhere for such contravention or failure,
(i) If any goods
imported by sea or air be unloaded or attempted to be unloaded at any place
other than a customs-port or customs-airport declared under section 9 for
unloading of such goods;
ii) if any goods
be imported by land or inland water through any route other than a route
declared under clause (c) of section 9 for the import of such goods; or
(iii) if any
goods be attempted to be exported by sea or air from any place other than a
customs-port or customs-airport appointed for the loading of such goods; or
iv) if any goods
be attempted to be exported by land or inland water through any route other
than a route declared under clause (c) of section 9 for the export of such
goods; or
(v) if any
imported goods be brought into any bay, gulf, creek or river for the purpose of
being landed at a place other than a customs-port; or
vi) if any goods
be brought near the land frontier or the coast of Bangladesh or near any bay,
gulf, creek or river for the purpose of being exported from a place other than
a customs-station where any place has been approved under clause (b) of section
10 for the loading of such goods, from any place other than the place so
approved;
3. (i) If any
person exports or lands goods, or aids in the export or landing of goods, or
knowingly keeps or conceals or knowingly permits or procures to be kept or
concealed, any goods exported or landed, or intended to be exported or landed,
contrary to the provisions of this Act; or
(ii) If any
person be found to have been on board any conveyance liable to confiscation on
account of the commission of the offence under clause 4 of this Table, while
such conveyance is within any place which is not a customs-station for the
export and landing of goods;
4. If any
conveyance which has been within the limits of any customs-station in
Bangladesh with goods on board, be afterwards found anywhere in Bangladesh with
the whole or any portion of such goods missing, unless the person-in-charge of
the conveyance be able to account for the loss of, or deficiency in, the goods;
5. (i) If any goods are
unloaded from any conveyance inward bound, without the authority of the
appropriate officer into any other conveyance at any place other than a place
declared under section 9 for the unloading of goods; or if any goods are loaded
into any conveyance outward bound from any other conveyance, without such
authority, from or at any place other than a place declared under section 9 for
the loading of goods; or
(ii) If any
goods on which drawback has been granted are put, without such authority, on
board any conveyance for the purpose of being re-landed;
Communication
of Offence
The
Malicious Communications Act
1988 section 1, see Stones 8.20830, deals with the sending to another of any
article which is indecent or grossly offensive, or which conveys a threat, or
which is false, provided there is intent to cause distress or anxiety to the
recipient.
Communications is fundamental to the existence and survival of humans
as well as to an organization. It is a process of creating and sharing ideas,
information, views, facts, feelings, etc. among the people to reach a common
understanding. Communication is the key to the Directing function of
management. A manager may be highly qualified and skilled but if he does not
possess good communication skills, all his ability becomes irrelevant. A
manager must communicate his directions effectively to the subordinates to get
the work done from them properly.
Communications Process
Communications is a continuous process which mainly involves three
elements viz. sender, message, and receiver. The elements involved in the
communication process are explained below in detail:
1. Sender
The sender or the communicator generates the message and conveys it to
the receiver. He is the source and the one who starts the communication
2. Message
It is the idea, information, view, fact, feeling, etc. that is
generated by the sender and is then intended to be communicated further.
3. Encoding
The message generated by the sender is encoded symbolically such as in
the form of words, pictures, gestures, etc. before it is being conveyed.
4. Media
It is the manner in which the encoded message is transmitted. The
message may be transmitted orally or in writing. The medium of communication
includes telephone, internet, post, fax, e-mail, etc. The choice of medium is
decided by the sender.
5. Decoding
It is the process of converting the symbols encoded by the sender.
After decoding the message is received by the receiver.
6. Receiver
He is the person who is last in the chain and for whom the message was
sent by the sender. Once the receiver receives the message and understands it
in proper perspective and acts according to the message, only then the purpose
of communication is successful.
7. Feedback
Once the receiver confirms to the sender that he has received the
message and understood it, the process of communication is complete.
8. Noise
It refers to any obstruction that is caused by the sender, message or
receiver during the process of communication. For example, bad telephone
connection, faulty encoding, faulty decoding, inattentive receiver, poor
understanding of message due to prejudice or inappropriate gestures, etc.
Importance of Communication
1. The Basis of Co-ordination
The manager explains to the employees the organizational goals, modes
of their achievement and also the interpersonal relationships amongst them.
This provides coordination between various employees and also departments.
Thus, communications act as a basis for coordination in the organization.
2. Fluent Working
A manager coordinates the human and physical elements of an
organization to run it smoothly and efficiently. This coordination is not
possible without proper communication.
3. The Basis of Decision Making
Proper communication provides information to the manager that is useful
for decision making. No decisions could be taken in the absence of information.
Thus, communication is the basis for taking the right decisions.
4. Increases Managerial Efficiency
The manager conveys the targets and issues instructions and allocates
jobs to the subordinates. All of these aspects involve communication. Thus,
communication is essential for the quick and effective performance of the
managers and the entire organization.
5. Increases Cooperation and Organizational Peace
The two-way communication process promotes co-operation and mutual
understanding amongst the workers and also between them and the management.
This leads to less friction and thus leads to industrial peace in the factory
and efficient operations.
6. Boosts Morale of the Employees
Good communication helps the workers to adjust to the physical and
social aspect of work. It also improves good human relations in the industry.
An efficient system of communication enables the management to motivate,
influence and satisfy the subordinates which in turn boosts their morale and
keeps them motivated.
Types of Communication
1. Formal Communication
Formal communications are the one which flows through the official
channels designed in the organizational chart. It may take place between a
superior and a subordinate, a subordinate and a superior or among the same
cadre employees or managers. These communications can be oral or in writing and
are generally recorded and filed in the office; Formal communication may be
further classified as Vertical communication and Horizontal communication.
Vertical Communication
Vertical Communications as the name suggests flows vertically upwards
or downwards through formal channels. Upward communication refers to the flow
of communication from a subordinate to a superior whereas downward
communication flows from a superior to a subordinate. Application for grant of
leave, submission of a progress report, request for loans etc. are some of the
examples of upward communication. Sending notice to employees to attend a
meeting, delegating work to the subordinates, informing them about the company
policies, etc. are some examples of downward communication.
Horizontal Communication
Horizontal or lateral communication takes place between one division
and another. For example, a production manager may contact the finance manager
to discuss the delivery of raw material or its purchase.
Provisions
and Punishment of Penal Code
Punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or imprisonment:
511. Whoever attempts to commit an
offence punishable by this Code with 2[ imprisonment for life] or
imprisonment, or to cause such an offence to be committed, and in such attempt
does any act towards the commission of the offence, shall, where no express
provision is made by this Code for the punishment of such attempt, be punished
with 3[ imprisonment of any description
provided for the offence, for a term which may extend to one-half of the
longest term of imprisonment provided for that offence], or with such fine as
is provided for the offence, or with both.
Illustrations
a)
A makes an attempt to steal some jewels
by breaking open a box, and finds after so opening the box, that there is no
jewel in it. He has done an act towards the commission of theft, and therefore
is guilty under this section.
b)
A
makes an attempt to pick the pocket of Z by thrusting his hand into Z's pocket.
A fails in the attempt in consequence of Z's having nothing in his pocket. A is
guilty under this section.
Conclusion
For the purposes of any penal provisions of this Act, the
offence of contravening, in respect of any goods, any of the provisions of this
Act or the rules or any other law for the time being in force, shall be deemed
to have been committed when, in the case of import, any vessel containing such
goods arrives within twelve nautical miles of the sea coast of Bangladesh (each
nautical mile measuring six thousand and eighty feet) or when, in the case of
export, such goods have been loaded on any conveyance for transport to any
destination outside Bangladesh, or when, in either case, the connected customs
documents have been presented to the appropriate officer.
The provisions of the act are exhaustive in themselves but
the act is not exhaustive in itself. The relevancy of facts is an important
chapter which deals with the substance of the trials as, without facts; nothing
can be proved to have happened. The act was developed during the rule of the
Bruisers and hence leaves a huge room for improvements which might have not yet
been discovered. The evident changing nature of law should be continuously
applied in updating this act to ensure fair judgments.
References
3.
Ramcharan, B. G. (1983). International
Law and Fact-finding in the Field of Human Rights. Martinus Nijhoff
Publishers. pp. VII. ISBN 978-90-247-3042-1.
4.
United Nations. Declaration on
Fact-finding by the United Nations in the Field of the Maintenance of
International Peace and Security. 9 December
1991. Accessed 17 November 2008.
5.
Lyal
S. Sunga, "How Can UN Human Rights Special
Procedures Sharpen ICC Fact-Finding?" 15(2) The International Journal of Human Rights (2011)
187–204.
7.
"Resolution 46/59 Declaration of
fact-finding missions". New York: UN. 9 December 1991. Fact-finding
should be comprehensive, objective, impartial and timely.
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