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2015 (12) TMI 1885 - HC - Indian LawsIdentification of handwriting in the cheque - Whether a Civil Court may not send a disputed handwriting/signature to a handwriting expert (under Section 45 of the Evidence Act) if the time gap between the admitted signature and the disputed signature is very large? - HELD THAT:- Nature and extent of variation differs from person to person and, in its way, forms an important element in identification process. Writing variation is due to various factors external factors like writing position, writing instrument, care of execution, etc; physical and mental conditions like fatigue, intoxication, drug use, illness, nervousness, etc. These factors produce a varying degree of variation. The variation is commensurable in its degree with the intensity of the cause - Variation does not preclude identification of the writing. In fact, it forms an additional factor that serves to personalize the writing. Writing of an adult will show an obvious steady change with passage of time. In these circumstances provision of a whole set of signatures written over a period of years will prove of inestimable value to the document examiner - When serious illness occurs, a signature often undergoes a remarkable change in a very short period and if a suspect will is dated near the day of death, standard (admittedly genuine) signatures covering this period are essential if reliable evidence of the authenticity or otherwise of the signature is to be established. The gist of the experts opinion, emerging from the above Report, is to the effect that it is not always necessary to have contemporaneous handwritings/signatures for comparison. However, as a general rule, it would be desirable to undertake comparison of admitted handwritings/signatures with disputed handwritings/signatures which fall within the range of 2 or 3 years from each other. Therefore, there can be no hard and fast norm as to when comparison can or cannot be undertaken owing to the time lag between the two sets of handwritings/signatures. Various other factors would have to be taken into consideration, as opined by the experts - It is therefore not open to the Court to refuse to entertain an application seeking comparison of disputed handwritings/signatures with admitted handwritings/ signatures on the ground of a long lapse of time between the two sets of handwritings/signatures. It is only too well-known that the appearance of a signature depends on many factors. The type of pen used, the ink, the quickness of the flow of the pen, the paper on which it was written, the place where the signature is put e.g., a signature on a rough paper would not be exactly the same as that on a smooth paper. In the same way, a signature written with a rough pen would not be the same as a signature with a good smooth-writing pen. Similarly if some smooth pad or some such object is used for resting the paper at the time of the signature, then that signature would be different from the signature put on a paper resting on a rough surface. No time could be fixed for filing applications under Section 45 of the Indian Evidence Act for sending the disputed signature or writings to the handwriting expert for comparison and opinion and same shall be left open to the discretion of the court; for exercising such discretion when exigencies so demand, depending upon the facts and circumstances of the each case - merely because an application seeking expert opinion is filed belatedly, it would not automatically mean that the signatures sent for comparison are not contemporaneous. The matters may be posted before the Court concerned for adjudication on merits.
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