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An Analysis of the Provisions given under the Indian Evidence Act, 1872
for the Documentary Evidence from section 61 to 73A1
The facts of a particular document can be proved via two methods, one is the oral evidence,
and the other is the documentary evidence. Chapter 4 of the Indian Evidence Act Deals with
Oral Evidence (sections 59 and 60) and Chapter 5 is the documentary Evidence (Sections 61
to 90 A). This section deals with how the contents given in the document will be proven.
1. What is Documentary Evidence?
The word document has been defined under section 3 of the Indian Evidence Act. Any
document which is given for the assessment of the court also it is pertinent to note that
documentary evidence is superior to oral pieces of evidence, especially in the area of
trustworthiness. This principle comes from the doctrine of vox Audita Perit, literra Scripta
Manet which means spoken words vanish whereas only the written words remain. This means
when there is evidence in front of the court, one is the oral evidence, and the other is the
documentary evidence supremacy will be given to the documentary Evidence.
So, if we look at the Indian Evidence act then we see that the documentary evidence is
bifurcated into three categories –
1. General rules concerning proving documentary evidence in various cases are dealt
with under sections 61 to 73 A.
2. Second is the public documents which are dealt with under sections 74 to 78 and
3. Finally, it is 79 to 90 A which deals with presumptions as to the documents.
Section 61 deals with proof regarding the contents of documents – So the section clearly
states that for proving the contents of a particular document in a court of law, there are 2
methods.
1. Primary Evidence which is discussed under sections 62 and
2. Secondary Evidence which is discussed under section 63.
1 B.A. LL.B., 2nd year Student, School of Law at University of Petroleum & Energy Studies (UPES) Knowledge
Acres, Kandoli Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. Email: 500084643@stu.upes.ac.in.
