Introduction

If you are an investigator, an advocate or an organisation that has to put digital material before an Indian court, sooner or later you will run into one question: how do you prove that a file, a log, a video or a disk image is genuine and unaltered? The answer in Indian law is the electronic evidence certificate. This page is a starting point — a single guide that explains why these certificates exist, how the law moved from Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act to Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, and the different kinds of certificate that suit different situations. Wherever a topic has its own detailed guide, we link to it so you can go deeper. Throughout, we point out how e-Dex (formerly Hash Calculator) helps you produce one.

P26

For decades, electronic-evidence certificates in India were governed by Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA) replaced that Act, and the certificate requirement now lives in Section 63. The principle is continuous — both require a certificate — but the BSA modernised the language and introduced a Schedule with a prescribed certificate form split into Part A (completed by the party producing the record) and Part B (completed by an expert). Our dedicated explainer covers this in detail: Section 63 of the BSA 2023: producing a court-ready electronic evidence certificate.

P26 (the successor to Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872) sets out this requirement, including a Schedule with a prescribed certificate form. The exact application depends on the facts and the court, so treat the provision as it stands and take legal advice where the stakes warrant it.

What is the difference between Section 65B IEA and Section 63 BSA 2023?
Both require a certificate to accompany electronic records. Section 65B belonged to the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, while Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 is its successor under the new code. The BSA modernised the language and introduced a Schedule with a prescribed Part A / Part B certificate form. For matters spanning the changeover, the record's date generally determines which framing applies.

Does e-Dex need an internet connection to produce a certificate?
No. e-Dex runs fully offline on your own Windows machine, so evidence files and hashes never leave your computer. The only optional step that contacts the internet is requesting an RFC-3161 trusted timestamp from a Time-Stamping Authority; everything else, including hashing and certificate generation, works without a network connection.

What is the difference between a hash and a chain of custody?
A cryptographic hash is a digital fingerprint that proves a file has not changed between two points in time. A chain of custody is the documented history of who handled the evidence, when, and how, from collection to court. Hashing proves integrity; chain of custody proves provenance. A strong certificate uses both together.

Can a court-ready certificate guarantee that my evidence is admissible?
No tool can guarantee admissibility. e-Dex helps you produce a well-structured, integrity-backed certificate in the prescribed form, with hashing, optional PAdES signing and a trusted timestamp. Whether evidence is ultimately admitted depends on the facts, the deponent, how the record was collected and the court's view. e-Dex is a tool, not legal advice.

Conclusion

The electronic evidence certificate is what turns a raw file into evidence an Indian court can work with. Getting it right means understanding the move from Section 65B to Section 63, choosing the right kind of certificate for your situation, and backing it with reliable hashing, a real signature and a trusted timestamp. Use this guide as your map, follow the links to the topic you need, and when you are ready to build the certificate itself, download e-Dex — the Digital Evidence Integrity Suite and produce it from file hash to court-ready PDF on a single Windows machine.