ORAL EVIDENCE

S. 59. Proof of facts by oral evidence.

All facts, except the contents of documents or electronic records, may
be proved by oral evidence.

S. 60. Oral evidence must be direct.

Oral evidence must, in all cases whatever, be direct; that is to say

if it refers to a fact which could be seen, it must be the evidence of a

witness who says he saw it;
if it refers to a fact which could be heard, it must be the evidence of a
witness who says he heard it;
if it refers to a fact which could be perceived by any other sense or in
any other manner, it must be the evidence of a witness who says he
perceived it by that sense or in that manner;
if it refers to an opinion or to the grounds on which that opinion is held,
it must be the evidence of the person who holds that opinion on those
Provided that the opinions of experts expressed in any treatise
commonly offered for sale, and the grounds on which such opinions are
held, may be proved by the production of such treatises if the author is
dead or cannot be found, or has become incapable of giving evidence,
or cannot be called as a witness without an amount of delay or expense
which the Court regards as unreasonable:

Provided also that, if oral evidence refers to the existence or condition

of any material thing other than a document, the Court may, if it thinks
fit, require the production of such material thing for its inspection.
 DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE

S.61 Proof of contents of documents.

The contents of documents may be proved either by primary or by
secondary evidence.
S.62. Primary evidence.
Primary evidence means the document itself produced for the inspection
of the Court.
Explanation 1.
Where a document is executed in several parts, each part is primary
evidence of the document. Where a document is executed in counterpart,
each counterpart being executed by one or some of the parties only, each
counterpart is primary evidence as against the parties executing it.
Explanation 2.
Where a number of documents are all made by one uniform process, as in
the case of printing, lithography or photography, each is primary evidence
of the contents of the rest; but, where they are all copies of a common
original, they are not primary evidence of the contents of the original.
63. Secondary evidence.
Secondary evidence means and includes
(1) certified copies given under the provisions hereinafter contained;
(2) copies made from the original by mechanical processes which in
themselves insure the accuracy of the copy, and copies compared with
such copies;
(3) copies made from or compared with the original;
(4) counterparts of documents as against the parties who did not
execute them;
(5) oral accounts of the contents of a document given by some person
who has himself seen it.
S.64. Proof of documents by primary evidence.
Documents must be proved by primary evidence except in the cases
hereinafter mentioned.
65. Cases in which secondary evidence relating to documents may be
given.
Secondary evidence may be given of the existence, condition, or
contents of a document in the following cases:
(a) when the original is shown or appears to be in the possession or
power
of the person against whom the document is sought to be proved, or
of any person out of reach of, or not subject to, the process of the
Court, or
of any person legally bound to produce it, and when, after the notice
mentioned in section 66, such person does not produce it;
(b) when the existence, condition or contents of the original have been
proved to be admitted in writing by the person against whom it is
proved or by his representative in interest;

(c) when the original has been destroyed or lost, or when the party
offering evidence of its contents cannot, for any other reason not arising
from his own default or neglect, produce it in reasonable time;

(d) when the original is of such a nature as not to be easily movable;

(e) when the original is a public document within the meaning of section
74;
(f) when the original is a document of which a certified copy is
permitted by this Act, or by any other law in force in 1 [India] to be given
in evidence;
(g) when the originals consist of numerous accounts or other
documents which cannot conveniently be examined in Court, and the
fact to be proved is the general result of the whole collection.
In cases (a), (c) and (d), any secondary evidence of the contents of the
document is admissible.
In case (b), the written admission is admissible.
In case (e) or (f), a certified copy of the document, but no other kind of
secondary evidence, is admissible.
In case (g), evidence may be given as to the general result of the
documents by any person who has examined them, and who is skilled in
the examination of such documents.
S.65A. Special provisions as to evidence relating to electronic record.
The contents of electronic records may be proved in accordance with
the provisions of section 65B.
S. 65B. Admissibility of electronic records.
(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, any information
contained in an electronic record which is printed on a paper, stored,
recorded or copied in optical or magnetic media produced by a
computer (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.
S.68. Proof of execution of document required by law to be attested.

If a document is required by law to be attested, it shall not be used as

evidence until one attesting witness at least has been called for the
purpose of proving its execution, if there be an attesting witness alive,
and subject to the process of the Court and capable of giving evidence:

Provided that it shall not be necessary to call an attesting witness in

proof of the execution of any document, not being a will, which has
been registered in accordance with the provisions of the Indian
Registration Act, 1908 (16 of 1908), unless its execution by the person
by whom it purports to have been executed is specifically denied.
S.69. Proof where no attesting witness found.
If no such attesting witness can be found, or if the document purports to
have been executed in the United Kingdom, it must be proved that the
attestation of one attesting witness at least is in his handwriting, and
that the signature of the person executing the document is in the hand
writing of that person.

S. 70. Admission of execution by party to attested document.

The admission of a party to an attested document of its execution by
himself shall be sufficient proof of its execution as against him, though it
be a document required by law to be attested.

S.71. Proof when attesting witness denies the execution.

If the attesting witness denies or does not recollect the execution of the
document, its execution may be proved by other evidence.
 PUBLIC DOCUMENTS

S. 74. Public documents.

The following documents are public documents:

(1) Documents forming the acts, or records of the acts

(i) of the sovereign authority,
(ii) of official bodies and tribunals, and
(iii) of public officers, legislative, judicial and executive, of any part of
India or of the Commonwealth, or of a foreign country;

(2) Public records kept in any State of private documents.

75. Private documents.

All other documents are private.
S.76. Certified copies of public documents.
Every public officer having the custody of a public document, which any
person has a right to inspect, shall give that person on demand a copy of
it on payment of the legal fees there for, together with a certificate
written at the foot of such copy that it is a true copy of such document
or part thereof, as the case may be, and such certificate shall be dated
and subscribed by such officer with his name and his official title, and
shall be sealed, whenever such officer is authorized by law to make use
of a seal; and such copies so certified shall be called certified copies.

Explanation.
Any officer who, by the ordinary course of official duty, is authorized to
deliver such copies, shall be deemed to have the custody of such
documents within the meaning of this section.