Anvar P.V. V. P.K. Basheer (2014)
Definition
Indian Supreme Court decision holding that electronic records are secondary evidence and can only be admitted with a Section 65B certificate. Overruled earlier decisions that allowed admission as primary evidence under other provisions of the Indian Evidence Act.
- Court
- Supreme Court of India
- Year
- 2014
- Holding
- Electronic records are secondary evidence, admissible only with a Section 65B certificate
- Effect
- Overruled earlier rulings permitting admission without such a certificate
Common questions
What practical requirement did this case create for using digital evidence in Indian courts?+
It made a Section 65B certificate, a signed statement authenticating how the electronic record was produced and confirming the device's proper functioning, mandatory before an electronic record such as a CCTV recording, call log, or email printout can be admitted as evidence.
Why did this ruling matter beyond the specific case it decided?+
It resolved a conflict between earlier Supreme Court benches over whether electronic evidence could instead be proved as primary evidence without a certificate, and its stricter reading was later itself revisited by subsequent larger-bench decisions, making the certificate requirement a recurring point of procedure in digital evidence cases.
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