Indian Evidence Act, 1872

Presented by:

Shankar BoseInspector of Income-tax

MSTU, Puri

::: Extent ::: It extends to the whole of India Except the State of J&K It applies to all judicial proceedings in or before any Court, including Court-martial But not to affidavits presented to any Court or officer and Not to proceedings before an arbitrator;

(To Refer-Sec 136, 279A & 292 of I.T. Act)Sec. 136 defined S. 136 -- Proceedings before Income-tax authorities to be judicial proceedings : Any proceedings under this Act before an Income-tax authority shall be deemed to be a judicial proceeding within the meaning of Sections 193 and 228 and for the purposes of Section 196 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and every income-tax authority shall be deemed to be a Civil Court for the purposes of Section 195, but not for the purposes of Chapter-XXVI of the code of Criminal Procedure, 1973".:::Interpretation clause (Sec-3):::Court :- includes all Judges and Magistrates and all other persons except arbitrators, legally authorised to take evidence.Fact :- means and includes- (a) Anything, state of things, or relation of things, capable of being perceived by senses, (LPG leakage)(b) Any mental condition of which any person is conscious, (e.g. Mr. A’s headache starts in hunger)Example:- That, certain objects arranged in a certain order in a certain place, is a fact.::: Interpretation clause :::“Facts in issue”:- means and includes any fact from which either by itself or in connection with other facts, the existence or non existence, nature or extent of any right, liability or disability, asserted or denied in any suit or proceeding necessarily follows.Example:- X bank was robbed yesterday when A was inside the bank is a fact; That A’s purpose of presence therein or B witnessing A before the bank’s Teller counter may be a fact in issue before the trial court. "Document” :- means any matter expressed or described upon any substance by means of letters, figures/marks, or by more than one of those means, intended to be used, or which may be used, for recording that matter.E.g.- A writing is a document:Words printed, lithographed or photographed are documents:A map or plan is a document:An inscription on metal plate/stone is a doc. Evidence:- means and includes: -(1) All oral evidences such as statements, narration, showing mark of injury/tampering etc.(2) All documents including electronic records produced for the inspection of the Court are called documentary evidence.( In case of oral or documentary evidence, documents contained in electronic form is also tenable by the court) :: OPINIONS OF THIRD PERSONS WHEN RELEVANT::Sec.45: Opinion of experts: Illustrations:-The question is, whether a certain document was written by A.Another document is produced which is proved or admitted to have been written by A.The opinions of experts on the question whether the two documents were written by the same person or by different persons, are relevant. Sec. 46: Facts bearing upon opinion of expert: The question is, whether A shot at B with .45 Colts

The opinion of experts that A had same gun, having fired shortly and is loaded with same series found at the crime scene, are relevant facts. :: OPINIONS OF THIRD PERSONS WHEN RELEVANT:: Sec. 47: Opinion as to hand-writingThe question is, whether a given letter is in the handwriting of A, an NRI.Brother B often receives A’s written letter/docs. C is A's broker, to whom A frequently submits signed letters, forms purporting to be written by him for the purpose of investment in India. The opinions of B, C and D on the question whether the letter is in the handwriting of A are relevant, though neither B, C nor D ever saw A writes the said letter.Sec. 47A: The opinions of Cert. Auth for DIGISIGN ::: CHAPTER IV; OF ORAL EVIDENCE :::Sec.59-Proof of facts by oral evidence.All facts, except the contents of documents, may be proved by oral evidence.Sec.60- Oral evidence must be direct: 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;::: CHAPTER V; OF DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE::: Sec.61: Proof of contents of documents: Contents of documents may be proved either by primary or by secondary evidence.Sec.62: Primary evidence: means the document itself produced for inspection of the court. E.g.:-- A person is found to be in possession of a number of maps, all printed at one time from one original. `Any one of the maps is primary evidence of the contents of any other, but no one of them is primary evidence of the contents of the original map.::: CHAPTER V; OF DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE::: Sec.63: Secondary evidence: means and includes :Certified copiesCopies made from the original by mechanical process, ensuring the accuracy of the copy.Copies made from and compared with original.Oral accounts of the contents of a document given by some person who has seen it.Sec.65: Cases in which secondary evidence relating to documents may be given:--when the original is shown or appears to be in the possession of any person out of reach,::: PUBLIC DOCUMENTS:::Sec.74: Public document: The following documents are public documents:documents, forming the acts or records of the acts of the sovereign authority, official bodies and tribunals, public officers, legislative, judicial, executive (orders, Rules, Acts etc)public records kept (in any State) of private documents (Docs. Kept in MCA21 portal)::: PRESUMPTIONS AS TO DOCUMENTS:::Sec.79: Presumption as to genuineness of certified copies: The court shall presume to be genuine every document purporting to be certificate, certified copy or other document, which is by law declared to be admissible as evidence of any particular fact which purports to be duly certified by any officer of the Central Govt. or State Govt. E.g.:- certified copies of orders/documents submitted before a Court/Tribunal, Attested copy shown as secondary evidence

CHAPTER VII; OF THE BURDEN OF PROOFSec.101: Burden of Proof: When a person is bound to prove the existence of a fact, the burden of proof lies on that person. E.g.:- A sues B for money due as per a contract.The execution of the contract is admitted, but B says that it was fraudulent, which A denies.If no evidence were given on either side, A would succeed, as the contract is not disputed and the fraud is not proved.Therefore the burden of proof is on B.(Sec-102)(Also refer Sec-103):::BURDEN OF PROOF::: Sec.114: Court may presume existence of certain facts: The court may presume the existence of any fact which it thinks likely to have happened, regarding the common course of natural events, human conduct and public and private business in their relation to the facts of a particular case. IllustrationsThe question is, whether a letter was received.It is shown to have been posted, but the usual course of the post was interrupted by disturbance:::ESTOPPEL:::Sec.115: Estoppels:- IllustrationA intentionally and falsely leads B to believe that certain land belongs to A, and thereby induces B to buy and pay for it.The land, later becomes the property of A,A seeks to set aside the sale on the ground that, at the time of the sale, he had no title. A must not be allowed to prove his want of title. ::: Examination of witness :::Sec.146: Questions lawful in cross-examination When a witness is cross examined, he may in addition, be asked any question which tend to- test his veracity/genuineness/authenticity and/or tend to discover who he is and what his position in life is.::: Of Production of documents :::Sec.162: Production of documentsA witness summoned to produce a document shall, if it is in his possession or power, bring it to Court, notwithstanding any objection there may be to its production or to its admissibility. The validity of any such objection shall be decided on by the Court.

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