ADMISSIBILITY OF EVIDENCE IN CYBERCRIME COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF IEA AND BSA
AUTHOR – SABILA IFFATH SHUJATHULLAH, LLM [DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL LAW AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE ADMINISTRATION] STUDENT AT THE TAMIL NADU DR AMBEDKAR LAW UNIVERSITY, SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE IN LAW, CHENNAI
BEST CITATION – SABILA IFFATH SHUJATHULLAH, ADMISSIBILITY OF EVIDENCE IN CYBERCRIME COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF IEA AND BSA, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 5 (14) OF 2025, PG. 573-586, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.
ABSTRACT:
A paradigm change in evidentiary law has resulted from the growing incidence of cybercrime in the digital age, which has transformed the nature of criminal evidence. In terms of acknowledging the acceptability of electronic and digital records, India’s shift from the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (IEA) to the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA) is a significant modernisation. The legal framework controlling electronic evidence under the IEA, BSA, and Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) is critically examined in this research study, emphasising how the law increasingly equates digital records with conventional documented evidence. The paper examines statutory sections that establish requirements for computer-generated outputs and certification, such as Sections 65A–65B of the IEA and Sections 62–63 of the BSA, through a doctrinal analysis.
The study also looks into court rulings that influenced the requirement for electronic evidence certification, such as Anvar P.V. v. P.K. Basheer (2014) and Arjun Panditrao Khotkar v. Kailash Gorantyal (2019). With a focus on the significance of chain of custody, expert testimony, and forensic validation, it also examines the changing procedural norms of digital material collection, preservation, authentication, and presentation. A convergent global trend towards technology-neutral admissibility is revealed by comparative insights from the US, UK, and EU (most notably the eIDAS Regulation, 2014).
Technical know-how, cross-border data retrieval, and privacy compliance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 remain obstacles despite legislative advancements. The study comes to the conclusion that institutional capacity building, forensic procedural standardisation, and judicial sensitisation to digital evidence are necessary for the successful implementation of the BSA. In order to ensure justice in a legal system that is becoming more and more digitalised, the study emphasises that the validity and dependability of cyber evidence depend not only on its technological origin but also on procedural integrity, legal conformance, and adherence to due process.