ADMISSIBILITY OF ELECTRONIC EVIDENCE IN INDIA: AN OVERVIEW
Naman Jain & Sai Srinivas Reddy, Alliance University, Bangalore.
ABSTRACT
The law of evidence has changed dramatically in recent years, with different types of evidence now deemed admissible by a court. This change has also come to India with various changes to the existing legislation. Pursuant to India's obligation to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the Information Technology Act 2000 (hereinafter the Information Technology Act) entered into force. This act legitimized and encouraged electronic commerce in the global marketplace and amended the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 (referred to here as the Evidence Act) to include provisions on electronic evidence. The Evidence Law requires that primary evidence be proven under section 64, while secondary evidence must be proven under section 65. Primary evidence is the type of evidence that is considered to have the highest factual certainty in question. Any evidence excluded from this category is considered secondary evidence. The burden of proof to demonstrate the admissibility of secondary evidence rests with the party presenting the evidence. Section 65A of the Evidence Act requires that electronic evidence be proven in accordance with the provisions of Section 65B. Section 65B was added to the Evidence Act by virtue of Schedule II of the TI Act.
It is a provision regarding the admissibility of electronic evidence. It establishes that any information contained in an electronic document is considered a document admissible as evidence and original, provided that it meets the conditions established in sections 65B (2) to 65B (5). Therefore, each piece of electronic evidence must be accompanied by a certificate issued after the checklist provided for in section 65B has been completed.
Keywords: Evidence Act, IT Act, evidence, electronic evidence, digital evidence
