Electronic evidence

As our lives have become increasingly digitised, electronic evidence has become an integral part of the law. An amendment in the year 2000 added the provisions 65A and 65B to the Indian Evidence Act, where Section 65A  gives special provisions as to evidence relating to electronic record and section 65B provides the admissibility of the electronic records.

Section 65B provides for what can be produced as evidence before the Court. It says anything that is printed on a paper, stored, recorded or copied in optical or magnetic media produced by a computer shall also be deemed to be a document admissible before the court subject to certain conditions. The Clauses 2,3,4 and 5 of this section provide these conditions and explain the prerequisites that need to be complied with to ensure that the evidence is genuine. The neccessary requirements can include the following-
1. the identity of the electronic device must be established
2. The device must be operational at the time of recording of the statement/information
3. There must be a valid certificate by the person having the electronic device

The abovementioned points are not exhaustive and the requirements as per the section are actually a mode of standard that has to be complied with for admitting any evidence as electronic evidence before the Court of law.

It should be proved by the resource personnel in evidence.