Concept of Res gestae:



Res gestae is a Latin term, borrowed from English law and incorporated in section 6 of the Indian Evidence Act.

Resgestae translates to "things done including words spoken, forming part of the same transaction". This means acts or words that occur just before or at the time of occurrence of the transaction [ e.g. The transaction of X stabbing Y with a kitchen knife] are allowed to be proved.

Here "a transaction is a group of facts so connected as to be referred to by a single legal name, such as a crime, a contract, wrong or any other subject of inquiry" as defined by Stephen.

Under Res Gestae, the statements, words, or acts done by the accused, victim, or bystanders or witnesses made just before or at the same time as the transaction takes place become a part of the transaction even though such statements or words are not fact in issue.

For any statement to fall under the ambit of Res Gestae the statement must be made spontaneously while the transactions take place and such statement must be a fact not a statement of opinion.

Case law-1


 In Rabindra Nath Moorthy Naidu v. State of west Bengal the accused was tried for stabbing of one- Paramesh Pramanik. Shortly after the stabbing the accused having escaped, the victim narrated about the incident and about the accused to the people collect around him. It was held that whatever spoken by the victim while the knife was still stuck on his back to people collected at the scene is a continuity of his conduct which is continuity of the incident itself and therefore comes within the scope of being a part of res gestae and admissible as independent evidence

Case law-2


In Chaman v. State of Uttarakhand, the accused allegedly abducted the father of the witness whose dead body was subsequently recovered, the evidence of the son (PW), who stated to have come to learn about the abduction of his father 4 or 5 days before the recovery of the dead body cannot be said to be part of the same transaction

Generally, hearsay evidence is not admissible however, if hearsay evidence becomes a part of the same transaction, then the doctrine of res gestae makes it admissible. Hence Res Gestae is an exception to hearsay evidence.