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Evidence Act · Chapter VII · Of the burden of proof

Evidence Act section 113A in the BSA

Evidence Act 113ABSA 117

Evidence Act section 113A, “Presumption as to abetment of suicide by a married woman”, is now BSA section 117 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From Evidence Act 113A to BSA 117

Now BSA section 117, with the same presumption; cruelty is defined by reference to BNS section 86.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Indian Evidence Act, 1872

Section 113A Presumption as to abetment of suicide by a married woman

When the question is whether the commission of suicide by a woman had been abetted by her husband or any relative of her husband and it is shown that she had committed suicide within a period of seven years from the date of her marriage and that her husband or such relative of her husband had subjected her to cruelty, the court may presume, having regard to all the other circumstances of the case, that such suicide had been abetted by her husband or by such relative of her husband.

Explanation. –– For the purposes of this section, “cruelty” shall have the same meaning as in section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).

Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023

Section 117 Presumption as to abetment of suicide by a married woman

When the question is whether the commission of suicide by a woman had been abetted by her husband or any relative of her husband and it is shown that she had committed suicide within a period of seven years from the date of her marriage and that her husband or such relative of her husband had subjected her to cruelty, the Court may presume, having regard to all the other circumstances of the case, that such suicide had been abetted by her husband or by such relative of her husband.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this section, “cruelty” shall have the same meaning as in section 86 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

The texts are India Code’s. The amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed. The PDFs linked below carry the full history.

Old law or new?

Which one applies to a case

The BSA repealed the Indian Evidence Act from 1 July 2024 (section 170(1)). Any application, trial, inquiry, investigation, proceeding or appeal pending immediately before that date is dealt with under the Evidence Act as it then stood, as if the BSA had not come into force (section 170(2)).

Sources

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