"Oath In Indian Courts Is Taken By Holy Book Gita?" : Myth Busted

Is it really true that the oath in Indian courts is taken by Gita? Lets see in the blog post. 

The above GIF image is from movie "Waqt" where Bollywood actor  "Shashi Kapoor" is on witness stand for a testimony. He is asked to put hand on Gita (Holy Book of Hindus) and swear that everything or anything he will speak will be nothing but the truth. Well obviously this is not how its done in reality in Indian courts.Before writing this blog post, just casually I went to my friends and asked about the subject and I tell you what  - They believe that in Indian courts oath is taken by touching Gita. Also while googling about the subject I discovered several questions were asked on Quora and Yahoo Answers. So I decided to write a blog post to answer all those questions or lets put it this way -"to bust a myth about courtroom."

Is Gita or any other holy book used for Oath in court?

In India, no but it was used in medieval period and early part of modern period. In the time of the Mughals, swearing was done by Holy Books like Gita and Quran. 

But at the start of British era, the system was abolished in order to establish consistent or uniform system of oath. All trial courts were brought under it. The law received proper recognition after "The Indian Oaths Act, 1873" which extended the uniform system of oath to all courts. But High Courts like Bombay carried out Holy Book oaths for non-Hindus and non-Muslims till 1957.

In UK, yes. The Gita can be used by a Hindu for oath in court.  More info can be found here.

When did Gita Oath or Holy Book oath finally end in India?

It totally stopped after 28th Law Commission Report. 

Para No, "41." Mentions the reason beautifully. 

So how is oath taken in Indian Courts? 

There is exact format given in Indian Oaths Act, 1969. The original format can be found at Indian Ministry Of Law And Justice's Website. (Click Here)

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