• Admissibility of electronic evidence

Sir,

 in any case if prosecution produced a CD in law of court without 65 B certificate and he say that we can not give 65 B certificate because it involves human intervention for production of data. then the CD is admissible in court or not.

Kindly clarify this with mentioning the judgments of supreme court or High courts.

thanking you.
Asked 5 years ago in Criminal Law
Religion: Hindu

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15 Answers

Hi, the electronic evidence will not be admissible untill and unless certificate under 65B of evidence act is produced along with CD

Hemant Chaudhary
Advocate, Gurgaon
4630 Answers
67 Consultations

4.9 on 5.0

Supreme Court has held that the requirement of a certificate to make an electronic evidence admissible is not mandatory "wherever interest of justice so justifies".

2) Section 65(B) of Indian Evidence Act says that electronic records needs to be certified by a person occupying a responsible official position for being admissible as evidence in any court proceedings.

3) SC has held provision should be applied only when such electronic evidence is presented by a person who is in a position to produce such certificate.

4) It said that if a person is not in a position to produce such certificate the provision of 65B should not be applied.

"If this is not so permitted, it will be denial of justice to the person who is in possession of authentic evidence/witness....Thus, requirement of certificate under Section 65B(4) is not always mandatory,"

5) the applicability of requirement of certificate being procedural "can be relaxed by court wherever interest of justice so justifies".

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94522 Answers
7485 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

No its not admissible in the court of law.

Below is the 65B point 5 of the Evidence Act

5) For the purposes of this section,—

(a) infomation shall be taken to be supplied to a computer 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;

Ganesh Kadam
Advocate, Pune
12910 Answers
253 Consultations

4.9 on 5.0

Courts can rely on electronic records without certificate.

Citation

Shafhi Mohammad vs The State Of Himachal Pradesh

Mohammed Mujeeb
Advocate, Hyderabad
19299 Answers
32 Consultations

4.7 on 5.0

section 65 B of Evidence Act is a procedural provision and if the electronic evidence is "authentic and relevant" the same can certainly be admitted, subject to the satisfaction of the court and it may depend on situation such as "whether the person producing such evidence is in a position to furnish certificate under Section 65B(4)".

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94522 Answers
7485 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. The CD along with the certificate, inter alia, identifying the electronic record containing the statement and describing the manner in which it was produced is required for considering the said CD as an electronic evidence.

2. The logic of human intervention for producing the said statement contained in the CD and the connected certificate will not be accepted by the Court.

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27191 Answers
726 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

The “Computer Output” referred to in the Section 65B can be in two forms namely “Printed on Paper” or “Copy on a Media”. If printed on paper it is to be signed. If rendered as an electronic copy, it has to be digitally signed.

To understand “Who has to sign”? one needs to understand that what Section 65B refers to is to the process of creating the “Computer Output” and not the process of “Creating the Electronic Document which is the subject matter of the computer output”.

Ganesh Kadam
Advocate, Pune
12910 Answers
253 Consultations

4.9 on 5.0

The State of Tamil Nadu Vs Suhas Katti

Ganesh Kadam
Advocate, Pune
12910 Answers
253 Consultations

4.9 on 5.0

sir if the CD contains the data necessary to decide the case then the court can dispense with the requirement of the 65B certificate the data and nature of intervention need to be seen by court in interest of justice for admissibility of the evidence.

Shubham Jhajharia
Advocate, Ahmedabad
25514 Answers
179 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

https://www.livelaw.in/party-not-possession-device-electronic-document-produced-need-not-produce-sec-65b-certificate-sc-read-order/

Shubham Jhajharia
Advocate, Ahmedabad
25514 Answers
179 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

No the CD is not admissible in absence of an affidavit under 65B.

However, the SC has laid exception to this general rules and the same can be relaxed by court wherever interest of justice so justifies.

Regards

Anilesh Tewari
Advocate, New Delhi
18077 Answers
377 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Kindly refer to the judgement at the following link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LkdljlxbADz19aS8ObebW3ZKZYxbLtbU/view

Regards

Anilesh Tewari
Advocate, New Delhi
18077 Answers
377 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Dear Client,

As per SC requirement of a certificate to make an electronic evidence admissible is not mandatory "wherever interest of justice so justifies" and provision of sec 65B should be applied only when such electronic evidence is presented by a person who is in a position to produce such certificate.

If a person is not in a position to produce such certificate the provision of 65B should not be applied.

Legal position on the subject on the admissibility of the electronic evidence, especially by a party who is not in possession of device from which the document is produced. Such party cannot be required to produce certificate under Section 65B(4) of the Evidence Act,

Yogendra Singh Rajawat
Advocate, Jaipur
22596 Answers
31 Consultations

4.4 on 5.0

Whether the prosecution or the defence side, if they rely upon the CD as an evidence in the case and would like to mark this as an exhibit without following the procedures as provisioned in the Indian evidence act under section 65B, this may be strongly objected

If the objections have been overruled and the petition is allowed, then you may file a revision before the high court to set aside the order allowing this evidence for marking it as exhibit, before court.

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
84711 Answers
2172 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

If any electronic record involves human intervention for its production and also not have 65B certificate then it is admissible in court of not.

Kindly clarify this with mentioning the judgments of supreme court or High courts.

The admissibility of the electronic evidence will be subject to compliance ot the provisions of section 65B of I E Act, until and unless the court discreets that this may be dispensed as a special case by giving valid reasons for such dispensation.

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
84711 Answers
2172 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

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