§ SECTION 138 · BSA 2023 · CHAPTER IX — OF WITNESSES

Accomplice

An accomplice is a competent witness against an accused person. The section then states that a conviction is not illegal if it proceeds upon the corroborated testimony of an accomplice.

How to read Section 138

Read both limbs. The first concerns permission to testify; the second expressly refers to corroborated testimony as the basis of a conviction.

Competency

Participation in the offence does not, by itself, prevent an accomplice from testifying against the accused.

Corroboration

The conviction clause uses “if” and “corroborated testimony”. Preserve that qualification when explaining the BSA provision.

Credibility

Under section 119(1), illustration (b), the Court may presume an accomplice unworthy of credit unless corroborated in material particulars. Read this with section 119(2).

The bare Act

The section in its own words — two short propositions.

Section 138 · verbatim

An accomplice shall be a competent witness against an accused person;

and a conviction is not illegal if it proceeds upon the corroborated testimony of an accomplice.

Statutory text verified on 24 September 2026 against the India Code edition dated 6 October 2025. Official source.

Glossary

accomplice

A person who took part in the offence for which the accused is tried.

competent witness

A person legally permitted to testify. Competency does not establish that the testimony is true.

corroborated testimony

Testimony supported by other evidence confirming relevant aspects of the account.

if it proceeds upon

The condition linking the conviction clause to corroborated accomplice testimony.

material particulars

Significant details, rather than merely incidental ones, considered in assessing the account. This expression appears in section 119(1), illustration (b).

not illegal

The section’s statement about a conviction proceeding on corroborated accomplice testimony. It does not direct an automatic conviction or cure unrelated legal defects.

The picture

An accomplice may testify. The conviction clause refers to corroborated testimony. Credibility and the facts of the case still require assessment.

Diagram in words: competent witness → corroborated testimony in the conviction clause → assess credibility with section 119 and the case’s facts.

The section, part by part

Read the statutory wording, its explanation and the teaching example together. Section 138 itself contains no statutory illustrations.

The two limbsReading with Section 119

the two limbsCompetency and the corroboration clause

In one lineAn accomplice is competent to testify; a conviction is not illegal if it proceeds upon the corroborated testimony of an accomplice.

An accomplice shall be a competent witness against an accused person;limb 1: competent to testifyThe person’s participation in the offence does not itself exclude that person as a witness against the accused.

and a conviction is not illegal if it proceeds upon the corroborated testimony of an accomplice.limb 2: conviction on corroborated testimonyThis limb expressly refers to corroborated accomplice testimony. It must not be paraphrased as dispensing with corroboration.

Teaching example — not a statutory illustrationAn accomplice describes the accused’s role in a robbery. Admissible CCTV evidence supports a material part of that account. Identify what the CCTV confirms, then assess the accomplice’s credibility and the rest of the evidence. Competency alone does not decide guilt.

Reading boundary“Not illegal” does not mean “must convict”. The section does not say that receiving an accomplice’s evidence automatically proves the prosecution’s case.

related provisionSection 138 and section 119 address connected questions

In one lineUse section 138’s corroboration clause alongside section 119(1), illustration (b), and the contextual directions in section 119(2).

and a conviction is not illegal if it proceeds upon the corroborated testimony of an accomplice.section 138: the conviction clauseThe current BSA wording expressly refers to corroborated accomplice testimony.

an accomplice is unworthy of credit, unless he is corroborated in material particulars;section 119(1), illustration (b): credibilityThis illustration follows the words “The Court may presume that”. Section 119(2) also requires regard to the specified facts when considering whether a maxim applies in the particular case.

Read the statutory contextSection 119(2)(ii) describes participants of high character in a negligent machinery arrangement. Section 119(2)(iii) describes captured participants kept apart whose accounts corroborate one another in circumstances making previous concert highly improbable. Read those provisions directly before turning a credibility presumption into an absolute rule.

Reading boundarySection 119’s contextual directions do not authorise an editor to replace the words of section 138. Keep the statutory text and any separately supported judicial interpretation distinct.

Check your reasoning

Before looking back at the text, identify the words that establish competency and the words that qualify the conviction clause. Explain why answering the first question does not answer the second.

Connected provisions

§ 119 · read together

IEA 1872, § 133

Section 138 corresponds to the former section 133, but its conviction clause uses different wording. Do not present it as an unchanged carry-forward. Compare the former Act.

Source: Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 — India Code, sections 119, 138 and 139. Statutory explanations and all three diagrams checked on 24 September 2026 against the supplied India Code edition dated 6 October 2025.

BSA 2023 § 138 — Accomplice