Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) 2023 Explorer
Explore, search, and navigate all 170 sections of India's modernized Law of Evidence (BSA) simplified for quick study.
Understanding BSA: The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 replaces the colonial-era Indian Evidence Act, 1872. It formalizes rules for digital signatures, screenshots, emails, and smartphone logs as admissible evidence in judicial trials.
(1) ThisAct maybe called the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. (2) It applies toall judicial proceedings in or before a...
(1) In this Adhiniyam, unless the context otherwise requires,— (a) "Court" includes all Judges and Magistrates, and all ...
Evidence may be given in any suit or proceeding of the existence or non-existence of every fact in issue and of such oth...
Facts which, though not in issue, are so connected with a fact in issue or a relevant fact as to form part of the same t...
Facts which are the occasion, cause or effect, immediate or otherwise, of relevant facts, or facts in issue, or which co...
(1) Any fact is relevant which shows or constitutes a motive or preparation for any fact in issue or relevant fact. Rele...
Facts necessary to explain or introduce a fact in issue or relevant fact, or which support or rebut an inference suggest...
Where there is reasonable ground to believe that two or more persons have conspired together to commit an offence or an ...
Facts not otherwise relevant are relevant— (1) if they are inconsistent with any fact in issue or relevant fact; (2) if ...
In suits in which damages are claimed, any fact which will enable the Court to determine the amount of damages which oug...
Where the question is as to the existence of any right or custom, the following facts are relevant— (a) any transaction ...
Facts showing the existence of any state of mind, such as intention, knowledge, good faith, negligence, rashness, ill-wi...
When there is a question whether an act was accidental or intentional, or done with a particular knowledge or intention,...
When there is a question whether a particular act was done, the existence of any course of business, according to which ...
An admission is a statement, oral or documentary or contained in electronic form, which suggests any inference as to any...
(1) Statements made by a party to the proceeding, or by an agent to any such party, whom the Court regards, under the ci...
Statements made by persons whose position or liability, it is necessary to prove as against any party to the suit, are a...
Statements made by persons to whom a party to the suit has expressly referred for information in reference to a matter i...
Admissions are relevant and may be proved as against the person who makes them, or his representative in interest; but t...
Oral admissions as to the contents of a document are not relevant, unless and until the party proposing to prove them sh...
In civil cases no admission is relevant, if it is made either upon an express condition that evidence of it is not to be...
A confession made by an accused person is irrelevant in a criminal proceeding, if the making of the confession appears t...
(1) No confession made to a police officer shall be proved as against a person accused of any offence. (2) No confession...
When more persons than one are being tried jointly for the same offence, and a confession made by one of such persons af...
Admissions are not conclusive proof of the matters admitted but they may operate...
Statements, written or verbal, of relevant facts made by a person who is dead, or who cannot be found, or who has become...
Evidence given by a witness in a judicial proceeding, or before any person authorised by law to take it, is relevant for...
Entries in the books of account, including those maintained in an electronic form, regularly kept in the course of busin...
An entry in any public or other official book, register or record or an electronic record, stating a fact in issue or re...
Statements of facts in issue or relevant facts, made in published maps or charts generally offered for public sale, or i...
When the Court has to form an opinion as to the existence of any fact of a public nature, any statement of it, made in a...
When the Court has to form an opinion as to a law of any country, any statement of such law contained in a book purporti...
When any statement of which evidence is given forms part of a longer statement, or of a conversation or part of an isola...
The existence of any judgment, order or decree which by law prevents any Court from taking cognizance of a suit or holdi...
(1) A final judgment, order or decree of a competent Court or Tribunal, in the exercise of probate, matrimonial, admiral...
Judgments, orders or decrees other than those mentioned in section 35 are relevant if they relate to matters of a public...
Judgments or orders or decrees, other than those mentioned in sections 34, 35 and 36, are irrelevant, unless the existen...
Any party to a suit or other proceeding may show that any judgment, order or decree which is relevant under section 34, ...
(1) When the Court has to form an opinion upon a point of foreign law or of science or art, or any other field, or as to...
Facts, not otherwise relevant, are relevant if they support or are inconsistent with the opinions of experts, when such ...
(1) When the Court has to form an opinion as to the person by whom any document was written or signed, the opinion of an...
When the Court has to form an opinion as to the existence of any general custom or right, the opinions, as to the existe...
When the Court has to form an opinion as to— (i) the usages and tenets of any body of men or family; Facts bearing upon ...
When the Court has to form an opinion as to the relationship of one person to another, the opinion, expressed by conduct...
Whenever the opinion of any living person is relevant, the grounds on which such opinion is based are also relevant. Ill...
In civil cases the fact that the character of any person concerned is such as to render probable or improbable any condu...
In criminal proceedings the fact that the person accused is of a good character, is...
In a prosecution for an offence under section 64, section 65, section 66, section 67, section 68, section 69, section 70...
In criminal proceedings, the fact that the accused has a bad character, is irrelevant, unless evidence has been given th...
In civil cases, the fact that the character of any person is such as to affect the amount of damages which he ought to r...
No fact of which the Court will take judicial notice need be proved....
(1) The Court shall take judicial notice of the following facts, namely:— (a) all laws in force in the territory of Indi...
No fact needs to be proved in any proceeding which the parties thereto or their agents agree to admit at the hearing, or...
All facts, except the contents of documents may be proved by oral evidence....
Oral evidence shall, in all cases whatever, be direct; if it refers to,— (i) a fact which could be seen, it must be the ...
The contents of documents may be proved either by primary or by secondary...
Primary evidence means the document itself produced for the inspection of the Court. Explanation 1.—Where a document is ...
Secondary evidence includes— (i) certified copies given under the provisions hereinafter contained; (ii) copies made fro...
Documents shall be proved by primary evidence except in the cases hereinafter...
Secondary evidence may be given of the existence, condition, or contents of a document in the following cases, namely: —...
Nothing in thisAdhiniyam shall apply to deny the admissibility of an electronic or digital record in the evidence on the...
The contents of electronic records may be proved in accordance with the...
(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Adhiniyam, any information contained in an electronic record which is pri...
Secondary evidence of the contents of the documents referred to in clause (a) of section 60, shall not be given unless t...
If a document is alleged to be signed or to have been written wholly or in part by any person, the signature or the hand...
Except in the case of a secure electronic signature, if the electronic signature of any subscriber is alleged to have be...
If a document is required by law to be attested, it shall not be used as evidence until one attesting witness at least h...
If no such attesting witness can be found, it must be proved that the attestation of one attesting witness at least is i...
The admission of a party to an attested document of its execution by himself shall be sufficient proof of its execution ...
If the attesting witness denies or does not recollect the execution of the document,...
An attested document not required by law to be attested may be proved as if it...
(1) In order to ascertain whether a signature, writing or seal is that of the person by whom it purports to have been wr...
In order to ascertain whether a digital signature is that of the person by whom it purports to have been affixed, the Co...
(1) The following documents are public documents:— (a) documents forming the acts, or records of the acts— (i) of the so...
Every public officer having the custody of a public document, which any person has a right to inspect, shall give that p...
Such certified copies may be produced in proof of the contents of the public documents or parts of the public documents ...
The following public documents may be proved as follows:— (a)Acts, orders or notifications of the Central Government in ...
(1) The Court shall presume to be genuine every document purporting to be a certificate, certified copy or other documen...
Whenever any document is produced before any Court, purporting to be a record or memorandum of the evidence, or of any p...
The Court shall presume the genuineness of every document purporting to be the Official Gazette, or to be a newspaper or...
The Court shall presume the genuineness of every electronic or digital record purporting to be the Official Gazette, or ...
The Court shall presume that maps or plans purporting to be made by the authority of the Central Government or any State...
The Court shall presume the genuineness of, every book purporting to be printed or published under the authority of the ...
The Court shall presume that every document purporting to be a power-of-attorney, and to have been executed before, and ...
The Court shall presume that every electronic record purporting to be an agreement containing the electronic or digital ...
(1) In any proceeding involving a secure electronic record, the Court shall presume unless contrary is proved, that the ...
The Court shall presume, unless contrary is proved, that the information listed in an Electronic Signature Certificate i...
(1) The Court may presume that any document purporting to be a certified copy of any judicial record of any country beyo...
The Court may presume that any book to which it may refer for information on matters of public or general interest, and ...
The Court may presume that an electronic message, forwarded by the originator through an electronic mail server to the a...
The Court shall presume that every document, called for and not produced after notice to produce, was attested, stamped ...
Where any document, purporting or proved to be thirty years old, is produced from any custody which the Court in the par...
Where any electronic record, purporting or proved to be five years old, is produced from any custody which the Court in ...
When the terms of a contract, or of a grant, or of any other disposition of property, have been reduced to the form of a...
When the terms of any such contract, grant or other disposition of property, or any matter required by law to be reduced...
When the language used in a document is, on its face, ambiguous or defective, evidence may not be given of facts which w...
When language used in a document is plain in itself, and when it applies accurately to existing facts, evidence may not ...
When language used in a document is plain in itself, but is unmeaning in reference to existing facts, evidence may be gi...
When the facts are such that the language used might have been meant to apply to any one, and could not have been meant ...
When the language used applies partly to one set of existing facts, and partly to another set of existing facts, but the...
Evidence may be given to show the meaning of illegible or not commonly intelligible characters, of foreign, obsolete, te...
Persons who are not parties to a document, or their representatives in interest, may give evidence of any facts tending ...
Nothing in this Chapter shall be taken to affect any of the provisions of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 as to the cons...
Whoever desires any Court to give judgment as to any legal right or liability dependent on the existence of facts which ...
The burden of proof in a suit or proceeding lies on that person who would fail if no evidence at all were given on eithe...
The burden of proof as to any particular fact lies on that person who wishes the Court to believe in its existence, unle...
The burden of proving any fact necessary to be proved in order to enable any person to give evidence of any other fact i...
When a person is accused of any offence, the burden of proving the existence of circumstances bringing the case within a...
When any fact is especially within the knowledge of any person, the burden of proving that fact is upon him. Illustratio...
When the question is whether a man is alive or dead, and it is shown that he was alive within thirty years, the burden o...
When the question is whether a man is alive or dead, and it is proved that he has not been heard of for seven years by t...
When the question is whether persons are partners, landlord and tenant, or principal and agent, and it has been shown th...
When the question is whether any person is owner of anything of which he is shown to be in possession, the burden of pro...
Where there is a question as to the good faith of a transaction between parties, one of whom stands to the other in a po...
(1) Where a person is accused of having committed any offence specified in sub-section (2), in— (a) any area declared to...
The fact that any person was born during the continuance of a valid marriage between his mother and any man, or within t...
When the question is whether the commission of suicide by a woman had been abetted by her husband or any relative of her...
When the question is whether a person has committed the dowry death of a woman and it is shown that soon before her deat...
(1) The Court may presume the existence of any fact which it thinks likely to have happened, regard being had to the com...
In a prosecution for rape under sub-section (2) of section 64 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, where sexual interco...
When one person has, by his declaration, act or omission, intentionally caused or permitted another person to believe a ...
No tenant of immovable property, or person claiming through such tenant, shall, during the continuance of the tenancy or...
No acceptor of a bill of exchange shall be permitted to deny that the drawer had authority to draw such bill or to endor...
All persons shall be competent to testify unless the Court considers that they are prevented from understanding the ques...
A witness who is unable to speak may give his evidence in any other manner in which he can make it intelligible, as by w...
(1) In all civil proceedings the parties to the suit, and the husband or wife of any party to the suit, shall be compete...
No Judge or Magistrate shall, except upon the special order of some Court to which he is subordinate, be compelled to an...
No person who is or has been married, shall be compelled to disclose any communication made to him during marriage by an...
No one shall be permitted to give any evidence derived from unpublished official records relating to any affairs of Stat...
No public officer shall be compelled to disclose communications made to him in official confidence, when he considers th...
No Magistrate or police officer shall be compelled to say when he got any information as to the commission of any offenc...
(1) No advocate, shall at any time be permitted, unless with his client's express consent, to disclose any communication...
If any party to a suit gives evidence therein at his own instance or otherwise, he shall not be deemed to have consented...
No one shall be compelled to disclose to the Court any confidential communication which has taken place between him and ...
No witness who is not a party to a suit shall be compelled to produce his title-deeds to any property, or any document i...
No one shall be compelled to produce documents in his possession or electronic records under his control, which any othe...
A witness shall not be excused from answering any question as to any matter relevant to the matter in issue in any suit ...
An accomplice shall be a competent witness against an accused person; and a conviction is not illegal if it proceeds upo...
No particular number of witnesses shall in any case be required for the proof of any fact. CHAPTERX O...
The order in which witnesses are produced and examined shall be regulated by the law and practice for the time being rel...
(1) When either party proposes to give evidence of any fact, the Judge may ask the party proposing to give the evidence ...
(1) The examination of a witness by the party who calls him shall be called his examination-in-chief. (2) The examinatio...
(1) Witnesses shall be first examined-in-chief, then (if the adverse party so desires) cross-examined, then (if the part...
A person summoned to produce a document does not become a witness by the mere fact that he produces it, and cannot be cr...
(1) Any question suggesting the answer which the person putting it wishes or expects to receive, is called a leading que...
Any witness may be asked, while under examination, whether any contract, grant or other disposition of property, as to w...
A witness may be cross-examined as to previous statements made by him in writing or reduced into writing, and relevant t...
When a witness is cross-examined, he may, in addition to the questions hereinbefore referred to, be asked any questions ...
If any such question relates to a matter relevant to the suit or proceeding, the...
(1) If any such question relates to a matter not relevant to the suit or proceeding, except in so far as it affects the ...
No such question as is referred to in section 151 ought to be asked, unless the person asking it has reasonable grounds ...
If the Court is of opinion that any such question was asked without reasonable grounds, it may, if it was asked by any a...
The Court may forbid any questions or inquiries which it regards as indecent or scandalous, although such questions or i...
The Court shall forbid any question which appears to it to be intended to insult or annoy, or which, though proper in it...
When a witness has been asked and has answered any question which is relevant to the inquiry only in so far as it tends ...
(1) The Court may, in its discretion, permit the person who calls a witness to put any question to him which might be pu...
The credit of a witness may be impeached in the following ways by the adverse party, or, with the consent of the Court, ...
When a witness whom it is intended to corroborate gives evidence of any relevant fact, he may be questioned as to any ot...
In order to corroborate the testimony of a witness, any former statement made by such witness relating to the same fact,...
Whenever any statement, relevant under section 26 or 27, is proved, all matters may be proved either in order to contrad...
(1) A witness may, while under examination, refresh his memory by referring to any writing made by himself at the time o...
A witness may also testify to facts mentioned in any such document as is mentioned in section 162, although he has no sp...
Any writing referred to under the provisions of the two last preceding sections shall be produced and shown to the adver...
(1)Awitness summoned to produce a document shall, if it is in his possession or power, bring it to Court, notwithstandin...
When a party calls for a document which he has given the other party notice to produce, and such document is produced an...
When a party refuses to produce a document which he has had notice to produce, he cannot afterwards use the document as ...
The Judge may, in order to discover or obtain proof of relevant facts, ask any question he considers necessary, in any f...
The improper admission or rejection of evidence shall not be ground of itself for a new trial or reversal of any decisio...
(1) The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 is hereby repealed. (2) Notwithstanding such repeal, if, immediately before the date o...