Admissibility of Electronic Records as Evidence in India





  • Section 65B provides for 'Admissibility of Electronic Records'. Section 65 B (2) of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 lists the technological conditions upon which a duplicate copy (including a print-out) of an original electronic record may be used.

Although the main method of providing electronic evidence is printing on paper the information and delivering the electronic data in a medium such as a CD, for said evidence to have real security we should have the support of a computer expert.

Many businesses conduct essential meetings and business deals on platforms such as e-mail, and even on instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp and other similar applications. Schedules and minutes of meetings, essential documents, and receipts are all communicated via or on office WhatsApp groups. However, it is essential to be informed on how electronic records of conversations and documents shared on such platforms should be preserved and protected in the event these are to be produced as evidence in court


Are Electronic Records Admissible as Evidence in India?
To keep pace with the rapid developments in technology, the legislature enacted the Information Technology Act, 2000 and amended the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 in 2016 to recognize and include electronic records as admissible evidence in dealing with cases of cyber crime. Evidence law in India is categorized into Primary and Secondary Evidence, primary evidence  being the original, and secondary evidence being any number of copies or reproductions of the original. The distinction serves to impose on secondary evidence a higher threshold of authenticity in comparison to primary evidence in order to filter out any miscreants who may tamper with evidence. The general rule of law of evidence is that when primary evidence (i.e. the original) is not available, secondary evidence (i.e. copies) is not admissible.  

Preservation of electronic records
Anyone who seeks to adduce e-mailsSection 65B provides for 'Admissibility of Electronic Records'. Section 65 B (2) of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 lists the technological conditions upon which a duplicate copy (including a print-out) of an original electronic record may be used.

Although the main method of providing electronic evidence is printing on paper the information and delivering the electronic data in a medium such as a CD, for said evidence to have real security we should have the support of a computer expert


Many businesses conduct essential meetings and business deals on platforms such as e-mail, and even on instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp and other similar applications. Schedules and minutes of meetings, essential documents, and receipts are all communicated via or on office WhatsApp groups. However, it is essential to be informed on how electronic records of conversations and documents shared on such platforms should be preserved and protected in the event these are to be produced as evidence in court


Are Electronic Records Admissible as Evidence in India?
To keep pace with the rapid developments in technology, the legislature enacted the Information Technology Act, 2000 and amended the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 in 2016 to recognize and include electronic records as admissible evidence in dealing with cases of cyber crime. Evidence law in India is categorized into Primary and Secondary Evidence, primary evidence  being the original, and secondary evidence being any number of copies or reproductions of the original. The distinction serves to impose on secondary evidence a higher threshold of authenticity in comparison to primary evidence in order to filter out any miscreants who may tamper with evidence. The general rule of law of evidence is that when primary evidence (i.e. the original) is not available, secondary evidence (i.e. copies) is not admissible.  

Preservation of electronic records
Anyone who seeks to adduce e-mails as evidence has to download/printout  the e-mail which encapsulates details of the names of the sender and the recipient, as also the date and time of the message. Such data is proof of its relevance to the transaction to which evidence is sought to be adduced. All web-based e-mail facilities such as Outlook, Gmail, and Yahoo have a provision for this exercise.

Online Messaging Platforms
Online messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Viber, and Telegram are admissible as legal evidence, provided the electronic records of these conversations are preserved and retrieved in a methodical manner.Conversations on messaging platforms could be archived by taking multiple screen shots. However, since the conversation slides are saved as photos, the authenticity of some of these images can be questioned. A safer option is auto-archiving conversations through designated mail service providers.  

Securing admission of an electronic record

When an electronic record is sought to be produced in court as material of reliance or evidence, then such electronic record is supported with a self-declaratory certificate in the form of an affidavit, signed by a person in real-time control of the device/devices from which such electronic record is retrieved. This certificate also details the manner and process by which the electronic record was retrieved, including a description of devices that stored and facilitated the retrieval, copy, and copy production of the electronic record.


                                                Click on below link to watch the video

                     https://youtu.be/_CIwNJMyOBM

Comments

  1. Ajinkyasinh10 July 2020 at 23:05

    Very much useful information. Just a question,now the Chinese apps are banned in case if someone uses it, is it considered under cyber crime?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. adv.prasadshigvan11 July 2020 at 15:29

      Yes! Its a crime has the central government has banned those app for security reasons.

      Delete

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