As per details, the new Bharatiya Sakshya Bill has 167 sections. Of these, 23 sections sourced from the Evidence Act have been amended, 1 section is entirely new, and 5 sections have been removed, said Bar and Bench quoting the PDF of the bill.

Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023 definition:

As per the bill, it aims to ‘consolidate and to provide for general rules and principles of evidence for fair trial’, said Shah in Lok Sabha.

Citing the reason for bringing this bill, the government said that the existing Indian Evidence Act has not kept up with the technological advancements and societal changes of the past decades.

Adding on, the government says the new bill aims to align the laws with the contemporary needs and aspirations of the people.

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Key provisions of the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill:

1) The bill makes electronic or digital records admissible as evidence, thereby they will have the same legal effect as paper documents.

2) It repeals five existing provisions of the Evidence Act, modifies 23 provisions, and adds one new provision.

3) Also, the bill proposes amendments to 23 Sections and contains 170 Sections in total.

5) In the bill, the scope of expansion for secondary evidence to include copies made from the original by mechanical processes, counterparts of documents, and oral accounts of document contents has been done.

6) Through the bill, the government is aiming to introduce precise and uniform rules for dealing with evidence during the trial of cases.

Updated: 11 Aug 2023, 11:33 PM IST