Section 51:
Attendance of witnesses.
(1) Subject to the provisions of section 53 a village court may by
summons or otherwise send for any person to appear and give evidence or to produce or cause the
production of any document.
(2) A village court shall refuse to summon a witness or to enforce a summons already issued against a
witness, where in the opinion of the court the attendance of the witness cannot be procured without an
amount of delay, expense, or inconvenience which under the circumstances of the case would be
unreasonable.
(3) A village court shall not require any person living at a distance of five miles or more from the seat
of the village court to give evidence or produce any document unless such sum of money be paid to him
as appears to the court to be sufficient to defray his travelling and other expenses in passing to and from
the court and for one day's attendance.
(4) If any person whom a village court summons by written order to appear or give evidence or to
produce any document before it, fails to obey such summons, such person shall be guilty of an offence
and the village court may take cognizance of such offence and may sentence any person convicted thereof
to a fine not exceeding twenty-five rupees.