QSO 1984 § Article 131 — Judge to decide as to admissibility of evidence

Statutory text (English)

(1) When either party proposes to give
evidence of any fact, the Judge may ask the party proposing to give the evidence in what manner the
alleged fact, if proved, would be relevant, and the Judge shall admit the evidence if he thinks that the
fact, if proved, would be relevant and not otherwise.

(2) If the fact proposed to be proved is one of which evidence is admissible only upon proof of
some other fact, such last mentioned fact must be proved before evidence is given of the fact first-
mentioned, unless the party undertakes to give proof of such fact, and the Court is satisfied with such
undertaking.

(3) If the relevancy of one alleged fact depends upon another alleged fact being first proved, the
Judge may, in his discretion, either permit evidence of the first fact to be given before the second fact
is proved, or require evidence to be given of the second fact before evidence is given of the first fact.
Illustrations
(a) It is proposed to prove a statement about a relevant fact by a person alleged to be dead,
which statement is relevant under Article 46.
The fact that the person is dead must be proved by the person proposing to prove the
statement, before evidence is given of the statement.
(b) It is proposed to prove, by a copy, the contents of a document said to be lost.
The fact that the original is lost must be proved by the person proposing to produce the
copy, before the copy is produced.
(c) A is accused of receiving stolen property knowing it to have been stolen.
It is proposed to prove that he denied the possession of the property.
The relevancy of the denial depends on the identity of the property. The Court may, in its
discretion, either require the property to be identified before the denial of the possession
is proved or permit the denial of possession to be proved before the property is identified.
(d) It is proposed to prove a fact (A) which is said to have been the cause or effect of a fact-
in-issue. There are several intermediate facts (B, C and D) which must be shown to exist
before the fact (A) can be regarded as the cause or effect of the fact-in-issue. The Court
may either permit A to be proved before B, C or D is proved, or may require proof of B,
C and D before permitting proof of A.

Source and verification

Source citation: Qanun-e-Shahadat Order, 1984 (P.O. No. X of 1984) Art. 131: Pakistan Code portal consolidated official PDF 'THE QANUN-E-SHAHADAT ORDER 1984 (LAW OF EVIDENCE)' (P.O. No. X of 1984, last amended 2017-02-16 incl. Act No. IV of 2017), p. 59, ingested 2026-09-15. Automated transcription from official source (pypdf extraction, audited artifact repair); human admin re-check required before production.

Verification status: verified · Text status: auto_transcribed_verified_source

The record cites an official source, but its transcription is automated or only partly checked; a human re-check is pending.

Official Urdu text status: pending_official_urdu_text. Where official Urdu wording has not been sourced, Qanoon does not substitute an unverified translation for the statutory text.

Historical text notes

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• Date not confirmed: Consolidated current text as published in the official Pakistan Code PDF (p. 59) — reflects all amendments recorded in the official footnotes up to ingest date 2026-09-15. Automated transcription; per-amendment version…

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