10 21. The case of the prosecution is mainly dependent on the testimony of Chandni, the child witness, who was examined as PW-8. Section 118 of the Evidence Act governs competence of the persons to testify which also includes a child witness. Evidence of the child witness and its credibility could depend upon the facts and circumstances of each case. There is no rule of practice that in every case the evidence of a child witness has to be corroborated by other evidence before a conviction can be allowed to stand but as a prudence, the court always finds it desirable to seek corroboration to such evidence from other reliable evidence placed on record. Only precaution which the court has to bear in mind while assessing the evidence of a child witness is that witness must be a reliable one. 22. This Court has consistently held that evidence of a child witness must be evaluated carefully as the child may be swayed by what others tell him and he is an easy prey to tutoring. Therefore, the evidence of a child witness must find adequate corroboration before it can be relied upon. It is more a rule of practical wisdom than law. [See Panchhi and others v. State of U.P, (1998) 7 SCC 177, State of U.P. v. Ashok Dixit and another, (2000) 3 SCC 70, and State of Rajasthan v. Om Prakash, (2002) 5 SCC 745]. 23. In Alagupandi alias Alagupandian v. State of Tamil Nadu, (2012) 10 SCC 451, this Court has emphasized the need to accept the

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents