CLASSIFICATION

OF EVIDENCES

RACHIT ARYA (17010125059)

DIPANSHU GUPTA (17010125047)
 What is an evidence?
■ The term ‘evidence’ owes its origin to the Latin terms ‘evident’ or ‘evidere’ that mean ‘to show
clearly, to discover, to ascertain or to prove.’
■ Evidence is a means of proof. Facts have to be proved before the relevant laws and its provisions can
be applied.
■ According to Sir Blackstone, ‘Evidence’ signifies that which demonstrates, makes clear or ascertain
the truth of the facts or points in issue either on one side or the other.
■ Section 3 of The Indian Evidence Act, defines evidence in the following words-

Evidence means and includes-

– All the statements which the court permits or requires to be made before it by witnesses, in
relation to matters of fact under enquiry; such statements are called Oral evidence;
– All the documents including electronic records produced for the inspection of the court; such
documents are called documentary evidence;
Types of Evidence

1. Oral Evidence 3. Primary Evidence

5. Real Evidence
2. Documentary 4.Secondary Evidence
6. Hearsay Evidence
Evidence

9. Direct Evidence
7. Judicial Evidence
10. In-direct/
8. Non- Judicial
Circumstantial
Evidence
Evidence
 Oral Evidence
■ Section 60 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 prescribed the provision of recording
oral evidence. All those statements which the court permits or expects the witnesses
to make in his presence regarding the truth of the facts are called Oral Evidence. Oral
Evidence is that evidence which the witness has personally seen or heard. Oral
evidence must always be direct or positive.
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Bexy Michael and anrs. vs A.J.Michael

■ The parties are divorced spouses now

■ The contention of the wife is that an amount of Rs.3 lakhs and 50 sovereigns of gold
ornaments had changed hands at the time of marriage n the presence of
Eeendickal Appachan. (uncle of the husband)
■ Sometime Oral Evidence can be the sole ground for conviction or acquittal
Documentary Evidence
■ Section 3 of the Indian Evidence Act says that all those documents which are presented in the court for
inspection such documents are called documentary evidences.
■ "Document"- means any matter expressed or described upon any substance by means of letter, figures or
makes, or by more than one of those means, intended to be used, or which may be used, for the purpose
of recording that matter.
■ In Raksha Rai v. Ram Lal A.I.R 1987 P.& H. 60 it has been said that the word “document” as used in
the law of evidence “should not be construed restrictively. Etymologically the word means something
which shows or teaches and is evidential or informative in its character. Where the statement of parties
containing the terms of a compromise were recorded by a court and duly signed, it was to be held to be a
document.
■ S.61 – Proof of contents of documents--: The contents of document may be proved either by primary or
secondary evidence. Law of best evidence requires the best evidence must be given in proof of the facts
in issue or the other relevant facts. Primary evidence is the best evidence. The best evidence rule is to
produce the original and secondary evidence is not admissible unless the original is proved to be lost,
etc, as required under section 65. Contents may be proved, i.e., in other words, there are no degrees of
secondary evidence.
■ The subject of documentary evidence can be divided into three parts:

1. How the contents of a document are to be proved? {S.61-66}

2. How the document is to be proved to be genuine? {S.67-90}
3. How far and in what cases the oral evidence is executed by documentary evidence? {S.91-109}
 PRIMARY EVIDENCE
■ According to Section 62 of the Indian Evidence Act, "Primary evidence means the document itself
produced for the inspection of the Court.
■ The following four are included in the expression “primary evidence”:
1. The original document itself produced for the inspection of the court.
2. Where a document is executed in several parts, each part is primary evidence of the document.
3. Where a document is executed in counterparts, each counterpart in primary evidence against the party
signing it.
4. Where a number of documents are all made by one uniform process, for example, by printing,
lithography or photography, each is primary evidence of the contents of the document.
Case Law: Prithvi Chaand v. State of Himachal Pradesh, AIR 1989 SC 702
One specimen of a newspaper of a newspaper is not a copy of another specimen of the same
newspaper of the same date. They are all originals, each being primary evidence of the contents rest
under Explanation 2 to section 62.

■ Primary evidence is evidence which the law requires to be given first. The general rule requiring
primary evidence to be given of the litigated documents is based on the best evidence rule. An
original document is the first permanent record of a transaction. It is first-hand evidence and
presumptively the most reliable.

■ In Vinod Chaturvedi v. State of M.P., AIR 1984 S.C. 911, Where the writer of a letter was not
examined as a witness and no opportunity was given to the opposite party to cross-examine him, the
letter was held by the Supreme Court to be not reliable evidence.
SECONDARY EVIDENCE
■ Section 63 says Secondary Evidence is the inferior evidence. It is
evidence that occupies a secondary position.
■ It is such evidence that on the presentation of which it is felt that
superior evidence yet remains to be produced. It is the evidence
which is produced in the absence of the primary evidence therefore it
is known as secondary evidence.

■ Secondary evidence means and includes…….

1. Certified copies given under the provisions hereinafter contained;
2. Copies made from the original by mechanical processes which in
themselves insure the accuracy of the copy and copies compared with
such copies;
3. Copies made from or compared with the original;
4. Counterparts of documents as against the parties who did not execute
them;
5. Oral accounts of the contents of a document given by some person who
has himself seen it.
■ According to Sec. 65 of the act, where primary evidence can be provided secondary evidence should
not be used.
■ It should only be given where the original document is not available because it has been lost or
destroyed, or it is otherwise unavailable or because it cannot be easily moved because of bulk or
because it is under control of some public authority.
■ In State (NCT) of Delhi v. Navjot Sandhu, (2005) 11 S.C.C. 600.,it was held that the call records of
cellular phones are stored in huge servers, which cannot be easily moved and produced in courts.
Hence, secondary evidence of such records should be allowable under sections 63 and 65. Whatever
or not the requirements of section 65b (4) are satisfied. The nature of evidence to show that there has
been no improper use of a computer and that it was functioning properly would vary from case to
case. It would be very rarely necessary to call an expert. In normal cases it would be possible to
discharge the burden of proving proper functioning by calling a witness who is familiar with the
operation of the type of computer in question.
REAL EVIDENCE
■ Real Evidence means real or material evidence. Real
evidence of a fact is brought to the knowledge of the court
by inspection of a physical object and not by information
derived from a witness or a document.

■ Evidence that consists of physical objects that can be offered

into evidence such as weapons, tools, tool markings,
fingerprints, blood, hair, skin samples, etc.
■ In Sakatar Singh v. State of Haryana AIR 2004 S.C 2570, it was held that hearsay
evidence is the statement of a witness not based on his personal knowledge but on what
he heard from others thus, such evidence is not admissible.
■ Hearsay evidence is not admissible in court unless a statue or rule provides
otherwise. Therefore, even if a statement is really hearsay, it may still be admissible
if an exception applies. The Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE) contains nearly thirty of
these exceptions to providing hearsay evidence.
 DIRECT EVIDENCE
■ Direct evidence is that which the witness is giving on the basis of his own
perception.
■ Direct evidence is best oral evidence of the fact to be proved.
■ The liability of veracity of direct evidence is on person who is giving its
evidence.
■ An eyewitness has seen or heard the alleged events, or some real evidence is
provided which proves a fact in question. (The fact in question must prove
the guilt of the accused.)
■ The most common example of direct evidence is eyewitness testimony. Let's
say, for example, you are walking down the street, and as you pass the alley,
you see a man stabbing another man with a knife. In this case, your testimony
will be direct evidence. Similarly, in an accident-related personal injury case,
the testimony of a bystander who witnessed the accident take place will be
considered as direct evidence.
 CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE
■ “Men may tell a lie, women may a tell lie, but circumstances do not tell a lie.”
■ A form of evidence that allows a judge or jury to infer or accept a fact based
on a set of known circumstances. A fact that can be used to infer another fact.
■ For example: The cookie monster is found standing by an open cookie jar
with cookie crumbs on his face. The circumstantial evidence would indicate
that the cookie monster ate a cookie. However, he was not actually seen
eating the cookie.
■ Circumstantial Evidence is also known as indirect evidence.
■ There’s always a myth lying behind circumstantial evidence that it’s evident
enough to prove someone guilty of his act as the evidence is based upon the
circumstances rather than direct evidence which has the upper hand in this.
However, when there is an absence of direct evidence the case solely depends
on the circumstantial evidence.
Navaneethakrishnan v. The State by Inspector of Police (CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1134 OF 2013 )
■ In the case, the accused were apprehended and he confessed about committing the crime. Thereafter,
charge sheet was filed in the Court of Judicial Magistrate and subsequently they were sentenced to
undergo imprisonment for life with substantive sentences under the IPC.
■ The Appellant aggrieved by the order, approached the Supreme Court alleging that the Courts below
failed to appreciate that the conviction cannot be based upon a retracted confession and it can be used
only in support of other evidence.
■ In view of the facts and circumstances of the case, the Supreme Court Bench noted that the entire case
was based on circumstantial evidence and there was no witness directly to speak about the occurrence.
HEARSAY EVIDENCE
■ Hearsay Evidence is very weak evidence. It is only the reported evidence of a
witness which he has not seen either but heard.
■ Sometime it implies the saying of something which a person has heard others
say. The witness has neither personally seen or heard, nor has he perceived
through his senses and has come to know about it through some third person.
■ It is thus used in contradiction to ‘direct evidence’. It is derivative evidence.
■ Vikram v. State of Maharashtra,AIR 2007 SC 1893
Where the eye-witnesses were examined in the Court two and half years latter, some contradictions or
even omissions to state the incident in great details by itself would not lead to a conclusion that the
appellants had been falsely implicated in the case.

■ Absence of Injury on eye-witness to crime : Jalpat Rai v. State of Haryana, AIR 2011 SC 2719
Merely because there is absence of injury on the person of the eye-witness, his presence at the place of
occurrence does not become doubtful.
Judicial Evidence

Evidence received by court of justice in proof or disproof of facts before them is

called judicial evidence.
The confession made by the accused in the court is also included in judicial evidence.
Statements of witnesses and documentary evidence and facts for the examination by
the court are also Judicial Evidence.
NON JUDICIAL EVIDENCE

Any confession made by the accused

outside the court in the presence of any
person or the admission of a party are
called Non-Judicial Evidence, if proved in
the court in the form of Judicial Evidence.
THANK YOU