BSA 2023 § 63
Definition
The electronic record admissibility provision (replacing IEA § 65B), requiring a certificate from a person in a responsible official position confirming the computer was operating properly and the output was produced in the ordinary course of operation. Mandatory after Arjun Panditrao Khotkar (2020).
- Jurisdiction
- India (Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023)
- Replaced
- Indian Evidence Act § 65B
- Mandatory since
- Arjun Panditrao Khotkar (2020)
Common questions
What do I need to prove electronic records are authentic in court?+
You must provide a certificate from someone in a responsible official position. The certificate confirms the computer was working properly and the output was created in the ordinary course of operation. Without this certificate, electronic records face serious admissibility problems.
Who can sign the authentication certificate for electronic records?+
Someone in a responsible official position at the organization where the electronic record was created or stored. This person attests to the device's proper functioning and the record's authentic origin. The certificate must specify the device and how it was operating when the record was made.
When did courts start requiring this type of authentication?+
The requirement became mandatory after the Arjun Panditrao Khotkar (2020) decision in India. This provision replaced the earlier IEA § 65B framework for digital evidence authentication.
Related terms
- Daubert Standard
- The US federal evidentiary standard (Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 1993) requiring that expert testimony be based on scientifically valid methods with...
- BSA 2023 § 39
- Section 39 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023, the provision governing expert opinion evidence in Indian courts. Replaced Indian Evidence Act 1872...
- CrimPR Part 19
- Criminal Procedure Rules Part 19 (England and Wales): the expert-witness procedural code requiring disclosure of qualifications, methodology, limitations, and whether the method...
- DNG (Digital Negative)
- Adobe's open-standard RAW format providing a vendor-neutral archival container for camera sensor data; accepted as an archival format by SWGDE and several...
- EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format)
- A metadata standard embedded in JPEG and TIFF files by capture devices. EXIF fields record camera make and model, lens data, exposure...
- Frye Standard
- The US legal test for admissibility of scientific evidence, originating from Frye v. United States (1923), which required that a technique be...
- Image Enhancement
- Processing of a digital image to improve the visibility of features already present in the original data; permitted under SWGIT, FBI, and...
- JPEG Compression
- A lossy codec that divides an image into 8×8 pixel blocks, applies the discrete cosine transform, quantises the coefficients, and entropy-codes the...
- MD5
- A 128-bit hash algorithm widely used in legacy forensic systems; known collision vulnerabilities (Wang and Yu, 2004) mean SHA-256 or SHA-3 are...
- Positive Predictive Value (PPV)
- The probability that a person who tests positive on a risk instrument will actually reoffend. PPV depends on both the instrument's sensitivity...
- R V. Tobi (2019)
- UK Court of Appeal decision affirming that forensic image enhancement is permissible provided the original is preserved, the enhancement steps are documented,...
- RAW File Format
- The unprocessed output of a digital camera sensor, stored before demosaicing, white balance, or tonal curve application. Preserves full bit-depth and all...
Explained in these topics
- Digital Imaging Evidence and Court AdmissibilityThe Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 provision governing electronic records as evidence in India, requiring an authentication certificate specifying the device...
- Forensic-Psychology Expert Witness and Daubert / Frye ChallengesThe electronic record admissibility provision (replacing IEA § 65B), requiring a certificate from a person in a responsible official position confirming the co...