e-evidence needs authentication: SC
Nine years after it maintained that courts could admit electronic records such as printouts and CDs as prima facie evidence without authentication, the Supreme Court has said the view is wrong. Tampered e-records can lead to travesty of justice: SC The Supreme Court, in a judgment on September 18, observed that “electronic records are more susceptible to tampering, alteration, transposition, excision, and without proper safeguards, the whole trial based on proof of electronic records can lead to a travesty of justice.” The three-judge Bench was dismissing an appeal by P.V. Electronic records such as computer print-outs, CDs, pen drives, micro-chips, VCDs and so on are considered “secondary evidence,” as they are copies taken from an electronic device that stores or processes the data. Correcting it, the judgment held: “Thus, in the case of CD, VCD, chips, etc., the same shall be accompanied by the certificate in terms of Section 65B obtained at the time of taking the document, without which the secondary evidence pertaining to that electronic record is inadmissible.”
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