Section 65B of IEA : Section 65B: Admissibility Of Electronic Records

Explanation using Example

Imagine a scenario where a bank is involved in a legal dispute with a customer over an alleged unauthorized transaction. The customer claims that they did not initiate a transaction that resulted in a substantial amount of money being transferred out of their account. The bank, on the other hand, asserts that their electronic records show that the transaction was authenticated and initiated using the customer's credentials.

In court, the bank wishes to submit the transaction records as evidence. These records are electronic in nature and include logs from their computer systems that tracked the transaction in question. To comply with Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act, the bank must ensure that the printout of these electronic records meets the following conditions:

• The computer that produced the records was used regularly for banking transactions during the period in question.
• The kind of information contained in the electronic records was regularly fed into the computer during the bank's normal course of business.
• The computer was operating properly during the relevant period, or any malfunction did not affect the accuracy of the electronic records.
• The information in the electronic records is a reproduction or derivation of the data that was regularly entered into the computer during the bank's regular activities.

To admit this electronic evidence in court, the bank would also provide a certificate from a responsible official within the bank who manages the computer systems. This certificate would identify the electronic records and describe how they were produced, confirm the device used to produce the records, and address the conditions mentioned above as per Section 65B(4).

With the certificate and compliance with Section 65B, the bank's electronic records could be admitted as evidence in the legal proceedings, potentially demonstrating that the transaction was indeed authorized by the customer, based on the bank's standard operating procedures and the integrity of their computer systems.