Plea of Alibi

It is the plea of absence of person, charged with an offence, from the place of occurrence at the
time of the commission of the offence is called the plea of alibi.  The term “Alibi “is a Latin
word which means – elsewhere or somewhere else. In criminal law this plea is used by accused
against the commission of an alleged offence. When the accused pleads the alibi in court of law
he or she attempts to prove that he or she is somewhere else at the time when the offence is
committed. In other words, it simply tells us that the accused was not physically present at the
crime scene. It is basic law that in criminal case, the burden is on the accused to prove that the he
was not present at the scene and has not participated in the crime (Section 103 of Indian
Evidence Act, 1872). In order to establish the plea of alibi the accused must lead evidence to
show that he was so far off at the moment of the crime from the place of occurrence that he could
not have committed the offence. Section 11 of Indian Evidence Act, 1872 is related with the Plea
of Alibi.

Illustration – A is accused of B’s murder on a particular date at Kanpur. On that day A was at
Pune, is relevant to prove the plea of Alibi. Now A will prove that it would be impossible for
him to commit murder at Kanpur as he was in Pune.

Who may take a plea of alibi?

Generally, the accused of an alleged offence takes the plea of alibi. The accused must plead his
presence elsewhere at the time of the commission of alleged offence.
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When to raise the plea of alibi-
In order for the plea to be successful and effective it is always advisable to make the plea at the
earliest or in the initial stage of case: this stage could be at the stage of framing of charge or at
preliminary hearing.

Failure to establish Alibi – Failure on the part of accused to establish plea of alibi does not help
the prosecution and it cannot be held that the accused was present at the crime scene, the
prosecution must prove it by positive evidence. Thus, mere failure on the part of the accused to
establish the plea of alibi shall not lead to an inference that the accused was present at the crime
scene