CHAPTER XII PRODUCTION AND EFFECT OF EVIDENCE
Section 168: Judge's power to put questions or order production.
When a party refuses to produce a document which he has had notice to produce, he cannot afterwards use the document as evidence without the consent of the other party or the order of the Court.
Illustration. A sues B on an agreement and gives B notice to produce it. At the trial, A calls for the document and B refuses to produce it. A gives secondary evidence of its contents. B seeks to produce the document itself to contradict the secondary evidence given by A, or in order to show that the agreement is not stamped. He cannot do so.
About The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023
An Act to consolidate and to provide for general rules and principles of evidence for fair trial.