TARGET FOR IQ

Legal columns
Admissibility of Whatsapp Messages/Chats as
Evidence in Court
EvidEncE’ is an important tErm in thE
field of Law. The two most important
laws governing evidence in the form of
electronic records are the Indian
Evidence Act, 1872, and the Information
Technology Act, 2000.
Section 2(1)(t) of the Information
Technology Act, 2000 dEfinEs ‘ElEctronic
rEcord’ as data, rEcord or data
generated, image or sound stored,
received or sent in an electronic form
or microfilm or computer-generated
microfichE”.

Section 62 of the Evidence Act defines

Primary evidence while Section
63 defines Secondary evidence.
Primary evidence is the document itself
produced for the inspection of the
court. Secondary evidence briefly
includes certified copies and oral
accounts of the contents of the
document.

Whatsapp Chats as Evidence:

From the definition of section 63 of the

Evidence act, Whatsapp messages can be
considered secondary evidence. The
Honorable High Courts have few times in
recent times had accepted print-outs of
WhatsApp chats as secondary
evidence.

Four basic conditions have been given

under section 65B (2) of the Indian
evidence act to admit the secondary
nature of electronic evidence as
evidence in a court of law:

1. The computer/device from which the

concerned information was produced
must be used regularly over that
period of time and by the person having
lawful control over that computer;

2. The concerned information, during

the said period, was of such kind that it
is regular and ordinary in such activity;

3. The computer must be functioning

properly during the concerned period;
and

4. The information contained in the

duplicate copy which is produced before
the court must be the same as it is in the
original electronic record.

The above four conditions must be

fulfilled to produce WhatsApp chats as
evidence in the courts of law.

Landmark Cases:

In the case of Ambalal Sarabhai

Enterprise Ltd. v. KS Infraspace LLP
Limited and Another, the Supreme Court
observed that “thE Whatsapp mEssagEs
which are virtual verbal
communications are a matter of
evidence with regard to their meaning
and its content to be proved during the
trial by evidence in chief and cross-
Examination”.

Conclusion:

hon’blE suprEmE court of India and

several High Courts have recently
accepted print-outs of WhatsApp chats
as secondary evidence. However, the
recent observation made by the
Supreme Court has again put
evidentially of WhatsApp messages in
question. Due to the extensive use of
WhatsApp as a social media platform,
the Supreme Court has questioned its
reliability while denying to admit
WhatsApp messages as evidence in a
case.