What is a Section 63 BSA certificate?

Under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, which replaced the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 from 1 July 2024, section 63 sets conditions for treating the output of a computer or communication device as a document. Section 63(4) requires a certificate in the form in the Schedule to accompany it.

Who signs Part A and Part B?

Part A is completed by the person in charge of the device or record (often the party producing it). Part B is completed by an expert. The Supreme Court is reported to have held in May 2026 that Part B is not limited to examiners notified under section 79A of the IT Act, if the court is satisfied about the person's expertise.

What is a hash value?

A fixed-length fingerprint calculated from a file's contents. If even one byte of the file changes, the hash changes, so matching hashes show the file you hold is the same as the file that was hashed.

Does Saboot give me a Section 63 certificate?

Saboot drafts Part A for you to review and sign, with SHA-256 hash values for the exhibits, and leaves Part B blank for an expert. It does not provide an expert and does not promise a court will admit your evidence.

Section 63 BSA certificate explained

Last reviewed 8 Oct 2026

Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 lets electronic records such as chat exports and emails be given in evidence if conditions are met, including a certificate in the Schedule's form, signed in two parts: Part A by the person in charge of the record and Part B by an expert, with hash values for each record.

What section 63 is

The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA) replaced the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and came into force on 1 July 2024. Section 63 deals with electronic records. It is the successor to section 65B of the old Act. In broad terms it says that information in an electronic record, such as a chat export, an audio file, an email or a printout, can be treated as a document and be given in evidence without producing the original device, if the conditions in the section are met. One of those conditions is the certificate in section 63(4).

The certificate, in outline

Section 63(4) asks for a certificate in the form set out in the Schedule to the Act. The Schedule form has two parts. This guide describes what the parts are for and does not reproduce the form; get the current text from the official Act.

Part	Who completes it	What it covers
Part A	The person in charge of the device or account, usually the party producing the record	Which device or account the record came from, how it was produced, and the hash value of each record
Part B	An expert	The expert's certification, including the hash value of the records

Both parts are signed. The certificate is then produced with the electronic records.

Who can be the expert for Part B

News reports of Pune Bar Association v Union of India, decided by the Supreme Court on 22 May 2026, say the Court upheld section 63(4), described a hash value as an electronic fingerprint, and held that an expert who signs Part B need not be an Examiner of Electronic Evidence notified under section 79A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 if the person has special skill in computer science or cyber forensics and the court is satisfied about it. Read the judgment itself before relying on this. Practice may differ between courts and forums.

What a hash value is

A hash value (or digest) is a short string calculated from the exact bytes of a file by an algorithm. The same file always gives the same hash; any change, even re-saving, re-compressing or forwarding it through an app, gives a different one. A SHA-256 hash is 64 hexadecimal characters. The Schedule refers to standard algorithms; SHA-256 is a widely used one. A hash does not show who made the file or that its content is true. It shows that a file has not changed since it was hashed.

Steps

Identify the electronic records. List each file you will rely on: the chat export, the audio, the screenshot, the email, and which device or account it came from.
Compute a hash value for each original file. Use a standard algorithm such as SHA-256 on the original, untouched file and write the value down exactly.
Complete Part A. The person in charge of the device or account that holds the record completes Part A of the certificate in the form given in the Schedule, with the device details and the hash values, and signs it.
Get Part B completed by an expert. A person with the required expertise completes and signs Part B. Do not sign or fill this part yourself unless you are that expert.
File with the records. Produce the certificate with the electronic records and the originals, and follow the court's or Commission's directions on timing and format.

Common mistakes

Hashing a copy, not the original. A screenshot of a chat, or a file re-saved from an editor, has a different hash from the original export. Hash the file as first saved.
Typing the hash by hand. One wrong character makes it useless. Copy it, then compare it with a second tool.
Leaving Part B blank, or signing it yourself. Part A and Part B have different signers.
Not saying which device or account. Name the phone, the number or the email account the record came from.
One certificate for everything, unmatched. List each record with its own hash so each can be checked.
Waiting until the device is lost or reset. Hash and export early, and keep the original device if you can.
Treating the certificate as a guarantee. It is one requirement; the court or Commission decides admissibility and weight.

Other countries

This guide is about India. The United States uses declarations under 28 U.S.C. 1746 and Federal Rules of Evidence 902(13) and 902(14); England and Wales, Australia and Canada have their own rules.