"Hostile witness"
Under Article 150, leading questions are generally allowed to be put to a witness who, by his conduct in the witness-box obviously appears to be hostile to the party calling him.
Witness’s want of understanding:
Where the witness is a child or an illiterate or an alien and doesn’t appreciate the tenor of the desired details and is therefore, unable to say anything about it, a question calling attention specifying to the details may be allowed when other means have failed.
Permission of the court:
Where the court while exercising its discretionary power to allow leading question; the same can be asked.
Objection has not been raised:
Where the adverse party doesn’t raise objection as against the leading question put on witness; it is allowed.
Leading question can be asked during cross-examination:
Leading question may be asked in cross-examination. The purpose of cross-examination being the test of accuracy, credibility and general value of the evidence given and sift the fact already stated by the witness; it sometimes become necessary for a party to put leading question in order to elicit facts in support of his case, even though the fact so elicited may be entirely unconnected with facts testified to the examination-in-chief.
Exception to the rule that leading question may be asked in cross-examination:
There are certain exceptions to the rule that leading question may be asked in cross examination. These are as follow;
The counsel is not allowed to go to the length of putting the very words into the mouth of the witness which he is to echo back.
A question which assumes facts as proved which have not been proved or which assumed that particular answer have been given in fact have not been given is not permissible either in examination-in-chief or cross-examination.
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