Evidence Act · Chapter V · Of documentary evidence

Evidence Act section 75 in the BSA

Evidence Act 75BSA 74(2)

Evidence Act section 75, “Private documents”, is now BSA section 74(2) of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, in force from 1 July 2024.

What changed

From Evidence Act 75 to BSA 74

Now sub-section (2) of BSA section 74: all documents other than public documents are private.

The official text

Old and new, side by side

Indian Evidence Act, 1872

Section 75 Private documents

All other documents are private.

Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023

Section 74 Public and private documents

The part that carries Evidence Act 75 is marked.

(1) The following documents are public documents:—

(a) documents forming the acts, or records of the acts—

(i) of the sovereign authority;

(ii) of official bodies and tribunals; and

(iii) of public officers, legislative, judicial and executive of India or of a foreign country;

(b) public records kept in any State or Union territory of private documents.

(2) All other documents except the documents referred to in sub-section (1) are private.

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amendment markers and footnotes of the official print are left out, so the old section reads as it stood when it was repealed.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.

Also in BSA 74

Other Evidence Act sections that went to the same place

Evidence Act 74 Public documents → BSA 74(1)

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The BSA repealed the Indian Evidence Act from 1 July 2024 (section 170(1)).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)).