Being succeeded on the British legal system, the Indian legal arena inherited myriad legal aspects from the common law ideologies. Amongst various such legacies the Adversarial Legal System has laid down the underpinnings of India’s judicial process. The core enactment of Criminal Procedure Code, 19781 prescribes to the adversarial system based on accusatorial method. The connotation,
“Adversarial” simply means that an obligation to collect and establish the pellucid evidence is placed on the party that seeks to establish guilt, i.e. prosecution. The most vital part of this system is the neutral character of the judge, who acts as a referee between the conflicting parties. The whole process can be described as both the parties are allowed to introduce evidence and cross-examine witnesses.2The most usual comparison of adversarial system with inquisitorial trial system is a quintessential phenomenon of contemporary legal arena. The very utility of these systems has become the topic of heated debate.
The inquisitorial system simply implies that, the obligation is casted on the judge itself regarding for the production of evidence at trial. It’s pertinent to note that, it is the trial judge who decides upon the relevance and preference of probable witnesses and permissions to both parties to ask questions to the witnesses. This system of criminal trial assumes that the state, on one hand, by using its investigative agencies and government counsels will prosecute the wrongdoer who will have equal opportunity also take recourse to challenge and counter the evidences of the prosecution.
