Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (Evidence): A Commentary

Author: J. K. Verma

Year: 2024

Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (Evidence): A commentary by J.K. Verma is a treatise on the newly enacted Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA), which repealed and replaced the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Since significant sociological and scientific developments have taken place since independence, the provisions of the Act of 1872 increasingly required a thorough overhaul to incorporate these advancements. The result is the present Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023.

The BSA, replacing the Evidence Act, now has 170 sections instead of the earlier 167, with 23 sections changed, 1 new section added, and 5 sections repealed. Emphasising the importance and role of information technology, the BSA enlarges the definition of a document to include electronic records and recognises them as primary evidence. It also permits depositions, examinations, and cross-examinations of accused and witnesses through video conferencing. Further, digitalisation of criminal process from FIR to case diary, case diary to charge-sheet and charge-sheet to judgment as also videography of search and seizure have been emphasised and provided.

Prefatory notes included in the book of Manisha Karia, Kumar Askand Pandey and Sanjay Vashishtha, who are prominent criminal law academicians and practitioners, will be quite useful and informative for readers.

The book also includes a comparative table showing the correspondence between the provisions of the old law and those of the new law.

Overall, this book will be immensely useful to legal practitioners, students, law school faculty members, and anyone interested in understanding this new law on evidence.

Key Features:

• Date of Enforcement Notification
• Key Highlights of Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023
• Comparative Tables of sections old versus new and new versus old
• Table of new provisions introduced in new Act
• Table of provisions of Indian Evidence Act, 1872 omitted in new Act
• Corresponding law indicated under each section of new Act
• Articles and comments of legal experts