Together with the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), the colonial-era Indian Evidence Act of 1872 has been replaced by the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) as of right now. The Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Indian Penal Code are superseded by the BNS and BNSS.

The three new laws aim to modernise the nation's criminal justice system. On December 21, 2023, the Parliament approved it, and on December 25, President Droupadi Murmu granted her approval.

This revised Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam will permit the use of digital and electronic records in the document, including texts, illustrations, and cartoons in accordance with the Indian Evidence Act. The new rule applies to a broad variety of digital records, including location data, text messages, emails, server logs, files saved on desktops, laptops, or cellphones, and website content.

Anything that may be used to support a claim is considered evidence, such as the proof used in court or the breadcrumb trail showing the route Hansel travelled through the forest. Evidence plays a very crucial role in every case, it is what decides on which side justice is weighed in. As technology is progressing in our generation, courts have also come to accept e-evidence which is very helpful as most of the transactions happen over the internet these days.

The term 'Electronic Evidence or 'E-evidence'' refers to evidence produced through mechanical or electronic processes that can be used to prove or disprove a fact in court. Electronic evidence is also known as digital evidence.

Section two of the new act gives definition of the term 'evidence'

2. (1) In this Adhiniyam, unless the context otherwise requires:
(e) "evidence" means and includes:

1. all statements including statements given electronically which the Court permits or requires to be made before it by witnesses in relation to matters of fact under inquiry and such statements are called oral evidence;
2. all documents including electronic or digital records produced for the inspection of the Court and such documents are called documentary evidence;

The Indian Evidence Act of 1872, also known as the "IEA," had provisions on the admissibility and acceptance of "electronic records." Electronic record admissibility was regulated by IEA Section 65 A and 65B. Electronic records are generally admissible as defined by Section 65A. It says that without more evidence, any information found in an electronic record—printed or not—must be considered a document and accepted as evidence in any court process.

Section 65B specifies the conditions for the admissibility of electronic evidence. In order for the electronic evidence to satisfy these requirements, it must be accompanied by a certificate in the format required by law, which must identify the electronic record that contains the statement and detail how it was produced. A person holding a responsible official position in regard to the administration of related activities or the operation of relevant devices often issues this certificate. Courts can admit electronic evidence under the terms set forth in Sections 65A and 65B of the Indian Evidence Act and the Information Technology Act. Access to Section 65B, which specifies requirements for admissibility and classifies any data in an electronic record as a "document" for legal purposes, is provided by Section 65A.

These requirements include the following: information must be stored, recorded, or copied on optical or magnetic media; authenticity must be preserved through appropriate record-keeping and chain of custody; the device must be in good operating order; the information must be produced on a computer output; and certification by an appropriate official is required. While it is desirable to strictly adhere to these requirements, courts may nevertheless admit electronic evidence if they have good cause and even if some requirements are not met. The admissibility of electronic records is governed by Section 63 of The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA), and the requirements necessary to meet its admissibility are essentially the same as those of the IEA (with the addition of the phrase "and an expert").

The Schedule to the BSA contains a structure for the Certificate under Section 63 of the BSA, which is the main addition and modification to the BSA. Part A and Part B make up the two sections of the certificate. The person providing the electronic records is responsible for filling out Part A, and an expert is responsible for filling out Part B. The ambiguity surrounding Part-B is addressed subsequently.

This is the certificate to be submitted under section 63 of the new act, you might wonder what the HASH value and other new words are. You can think of hash values as file fingerprints. After a file's contents are processed using a cryptographic method, a distinct numerical value known as the hash value is generated that uniquely identifies the file's contents.

Cryptographic hash methods like SHA1, SHA256, and MD5 are used to confirm that a file hasn't been altered. These functions can be used to produce an alphanumeric hash value for any file. Using these functions is intended to ensure that, unless the file is edited, the alphanumeric code generated for it will remain unchanged.

This essentially indicates that a file's hash value is fixed once it is generated, barring any changes or tampering with the content. A file's hash value changes whenever it is modified, indicating that the file has undergone some sort of alteration.

Under Section 63 of the BSA, a certificate must have precisely these two components. After "I state that the HASH value/s of the electronic/digital record/s is," the alphanumeric hash value must be entered, and the checkbox corresponding to the hash function that was used must be checked. Therefore, you would check the MD5 checkbox if you utilized MD5 as a hash function to calculate the hash value of your file.

As stated on the certificate, Part-B's title is "To be filled by the expert." However, the BSA and its regulations are silent regarding the intended occupant of this Part-B, allowing for a number of options: (1) The party filing the electronic records may fill it out; (2) at the request of the party filing the electronic records, it may be filled out by an expert, or someone with specialized domain knowledge of computers and electronic devices; or (3) it may be completed by a "expert" as defined in Section 39 of the BSA and under Section 39(2) of the BSA, if and when the court deems the opinion of an expert necessary.