Section 5 Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023: Facts which are occasion, cause or effect of facts in issue or relevant facts

Section 5 of Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023: Facts which are occasion, cause or effect of facts in issue or relevant facts

Official Bare Act Text

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Facts which are the occasion, cause or effect, immediate or otherwise, of relevant facts, or facts in issue, or which constitute the state of things under which they happened, or which afforded an opportunity for their occurrence or transaction, are relevant.

Illustrations

(a) The question is, whether A robbed B. The facts that, shortly before the robbery, B went to a fair with money in his possession, and that he showed it, or mentioned the fact that he had it, to third persons, are relevant.

(b) The question is, whether A murdered B. Marks on the ground, produced by a struggle at or near the place where the murder was committed, are relevant facts.

(c) The question is, whether A poisoned B. The state of B's health before the symptoms ascribed to poison, and habits of B, known to A, which afforded an opportunity for the administration of poison, are relevant facts.

Statutory Defined Terms in this Section: (Click any term for official legal definition)

Court Sec 2(1)(a)

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 5

Section 5 establishes the relevancy of causal and circumstantial facts, rendering admissible any fact that constitutes the occasion, cause, effect, state of things, or opportunity surrounding a fact in issue.

Evidentiary Proof & Admissibility: This provision forms the cornerstone of circumstantial evidence in Indian jurisprudence.
Operational Mechanism & Scope: In digital and cyber-crime prosecutions, Section 5 possesses tremendous practical significance. Automated system crash reports, server audit logs, and cellular tower coordinates showing that an accused had exclusive digital or physical opportunity to execute an unauthorized transaction or communicate with a target are admitted under this section as causal effects and opportunities.

Key Landmark Precedents:

Sharad Birdhichand Sarda v. State of Maharashtra (1984) 4 SCC 116: The Supreme Court laid down the five golden principles (Panchsheel) of circumstantial evidence, holding that facts establishing occasion, cause, effect, and opportunity must be fully proved and form an unbroken chain pointing conclusively to the guilt of the accused.
Hanumant Govind Nargundkar v. State of Madhya Pradesh (AIR 1952 SC 343): Established the seminal rule that circumstantial evidence demonstrating opportunity and cause must be consistent solely with the hypothesis of guilt and wholly incompatible with innocence.

Legal Commentary:

Practitioners must remember that while proof of 'opportunity' under Section 5 is essential in homicide and circumstantial cases, mere opportunity without independent corroboration can never sustain a conviction. Establishing that an accused was 'last seen' in the company of the deceased creates a relevant opportunity under Section 5, which may then activate an explanatory burden under Section 106 of the BSA.