Section 63 Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023: Admissibility of electronic records

Section 63 of Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023: Admissibility of electronic records

Official Bare Act Text

Override / Mandate Mens Rea (Intent) Actus Reus (Conduct) Punishment Limitation Monetary

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Adhiniyam, any information contained in an electronic record which is printed on paper, stored, recorded or copied in optical or magnetic media or semiconductor memory which is produced by a computer or any communication device or otherwise stored, recorded or copied in any electronic form (hereinafter referred to as the computer output) shall be deemed to be also a document, if the conditions mentioned in this section are satisfied in relation to the information and computer in question and shall be admissible in any proceedings, without further proof or production of the original, as evidence or any contents of the original or of any fact stated therein of which direct evidence would be admissible.

(2) The conditions referred to in sub-section (1) in respect of a computer output shall be the following, namely:—

(a) the computer output containing the information was produced by the computer or communication device during the period over which the computer was used regularly to create, store or process information for the purposes of any activity regularly carried on over that period by the person having lawful control over the use of the computer or communication device;

(b) during the said period, information of the kind contained in the electronic record or of the kind from which the information so contained is derived was regularly fed into the computer in the ordinary course of the said activities;

(c) throughout the material part of the said period, the computer or communication device was operating properly or, if not, then in respect of any period in which it was not operating properly or was out of operation during that part of the period, was not such as to affect the electronic record or the accuracy of its contents; and

(d) the information contained in the electronic record reproduces or is derived from such information fed into the computer in the ordinary course of the said activities.

(3) Where over any period, the function of creating, storing or processing information for the purposes of any activity regularly carried on over that period as mentioned in clause (a) of sub-section (2) was regularly performed by means of one or more computers or communication device, whether—

(a) in standalone mode; or

(b) on a computer system; or

(c) on a computer network; or

(d) on a computer resource enabling information creation or providing information processing and storage; or

(e) through an intermediary, all the computers or communication devices used for that purpose during that period shall be treated for the purposes of this section as constituting a single computer or communication device; and references in this section to a computer or communication device shall be construed accordingly.

(4) In any proceeding where it is desired to give a statement in evidence by virtue of this section, a certificate doing any of the following things shall be submitted along with the electronic record at each instance where it is being submitted for admission, namely:—

(a) identifying the electronic record containing the statement and describing the manner in which it was produced;

(b) giving such particulars of any device involved in the production of that electronic record as may be appropriate for the purpose of showing that the electronic record was produced by a computer or a communication device referred to in clauses (a) to (e) of sub-section (3);

(c) dealing with any of the matters to which the conditions mentioned in sub-section (2) relate, and purporting to be signed by a person in charge of the computer or communication device or the management of the relevant activities (whichever is appropriate) and an expert shall be evidence of any matter stated in the certificate; and for the purposes of this sub-section it shall be sufficient for a matter to be stated to the best of the knowledge and belief of the person stating it in the certificate specified in the Schedule.

(5) For the purposes of this section,—

(a) information shall be taken to be supplied to a computer or communication device if it is supplied thereto in any appropriate form and whether it is so supplied directly or (with or without human intervention) by means of any appropriate equipment;

(b) a computer output shall be taken to have been produced by a computer or communication device whether it was produced by it directly or (with or without human intervention) by means of any appropriate equipment or by other electronic means as referred to in clauses (a) to (e) of sub-section (3).

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

Evidence Sec 2(1)(c) Electronic Record Sec 61

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 63

Section 63 governs the mandatory conditions and certification requirements for the admissibility of electronic records, replacing and modernizing former Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act.

Core Legal Standard: Crucially, sub-section (4) provides for the mandatory Certificate: an electronic record certificate must be signed by a person occupying a responsible official position in relation to the management of the relevant device or the management of the relevant activities, certifying compliance with statutory conditions.
Operational Application: Section 63 of the BSA incorporates standard statutory schedules for electronic record certificates, establishing mandatory parameters for authenticity.

This statutory framework establishes clear operational guidelines, balancing legal compliance with procedural safeguards.

Key Landmark Precedents:

Arjun Panditrao Khotkar v. Kailash Kushanrao Gorantyal (2020) 7 SCC 1: A three-judge bench held that a certificate under Section 65B(4) IEA / Section 63(4) BSA is an absolute condition precedent for the admissibility of electronic records in the form of secondary evidence (CDs, pen drives, printouts); oral evidence cannot substitute for the certificate.
Anvar P.V. v. P.K. Basheer (2014) 10 SCC 473: Held that Section 65B is a complete code; electronic evidence without the statutory certificate is completely inadmissible in evidence.
State of Karnataka v. T. Naseer (2023) SCC OnLine SC 1447: Clarified that an electronic evidence certificate can be produced at a subsequent stage of trial before the conclusion of trial with the permission of the court.

Legal Commentary:

Section 63 is the technological crown jewel of modern evidence law. In an era dominated by WhatsApp chats, call detail records (CDRs), CCTV footage, and digital financial logs, compliance with Section 63 certification is non-negotiable. Without a valid certificate from the system administrator or device handler, vital digital evidence is legally discarded.