§ SECTION 80 · BSA 2023 · CHAPTER V — DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE

Presumption as to Gazettes, newspapers, and other documents

Official and public-facing documents carry a presumption of authenticity. The Court shall presume genuine the Official Gazette, a newspaper or journal, and any document the law requires to be kept — provided it is in proper form and from proper custody.

How to read Section 80

Right form, right custody → presumed genuine.

What

The Gazette, a newspaper / journal, and law-required records.

The condition

Proper form and proper custody.

Proper custody

Right place / keeper — or a legitimate / probable origin.

The bare Act

The section in its own words — the presumption and the proper-custody Explanation.

Section 80 · verbatim

The Court shall presume the genuineness of every document purporting to be the Official Gazette, or to be a newspaper or journal, and of every document purporting to be a document directed by any law to be kept by any person, if such document is kept substantially in the form required by law and is produced from proper custody.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this section and section 92, document is said to be in proper custody if it is in the place in which, and looked after by the person with whom such document is required to be kept; but no custody is improper if it is proved to have had a legitimate origin, or if the circumstances of the particular case are such as to render that origin probable.

In short: to prove that a notification appeared in the Official Gazette, or a report in a newspaper, or an entry in a statutory register, a party need not call the printer or the record-keeper. The Court shall presume such documents genuine — on two conditions: they are kept substantially in the form the law requires, and they are produced from proper custody. The Explanation (which also governs § 92) makes ‘proper custody’ practical: it is the right place and keeper, yet custody is not improper merely because the document turns up elsewhere — if a legitimate origin is proved or is probable in the circumstances, that suffices.

→ This carries forward IEA 1872 § 81 (with the proper-custody Explanation of § 90).

Glossary

Official Gazette

The Government’s official journal — presumed genuine.

newspaper / journal

A published periodical — presumed genuine on its face.

directed by law to be kept

A record a statute requires someone to maintain.

substantially in the form

Broadly in the prescribed shape — minor slips excused.

proper custody

Right place and keeper — or a legitimate / probable origin.

legitimate origin

An honest, lawful source — enough to make custody proper.

The picture

Two conditions, one presumption.

The section, part by part

Tap a part — the picture-story tells it first; the word-by-word text and example follow.

The ruleProper custody

the ruleGazettes, newspapers and required records are trusted

In one lineThe Court shall presume genuine the Official Gazette, any newspaper or journal, and any document the law requires to be kept — if it is in the proper form and from proper custody.

The Court shall presume the genuineness of every document purporting to be the Official Gazette, or to be a newspaper or journal,SHALL presume: Gazette / newspaper / journalthe Court shall presume genuine any document that purports to be the Official Gazette, a newspaper or journal…

and of every document purporting to be a document directed by any law to be kept by any person,& documents the law requires kept…and any document the law requires some person to keep…

if such document is kept substantially in the form required by law and is produced from proper custody.IF proper form + proper custody…if it is kept substantially in the proper form and produced from proper custody.

ExampleA copy of the Official Gazette, or a newspaper produced from its proper source, is presumed genuine — you need not prove who printed it. So too a statutory register produced from the office that keeps it.

✗ Not thisThe presumption needs both proper form and proper custody. A newspaper of doubtful provenance, or a register produced from a stranger’s hands, may not attract it.

the ExplanationWhat ‘proper custody’ means

In one lineProper custody means the right place and the right keeper — but custody is not improper if the document’s origin is legitimate or is probably so. (This definition also serves § 92.)

Explanation.– For the purposes of this section and section 92, document is said to be in proper custody if it is in the place in which, and looked after by the person with whom such document is required to be kept;‘proper custody’ = right place & keepera document is in proper custody if it is in the right place, with the right keeper (as the law requires)…

but no custody is improper if it is proved to have had a legitimate origin, or if the circumstances of the particular case are such as to render that origin probable.not improper if origin legitimate / probable…but custody is not improper if its origin is proved legitimate, or the circumstances make that origin probable.

ExampleA 40-year-old family will produced from the family’s own records is in proper custody, even without an official custodian — its origin is legitimate.

✗ Not this‘Proper custody’ is not rigid. A document found in an unexpected place still qualifies if its legitimate origin is proved or probable — the point is authenticity, not the exact shelf.

Connected provisions

§ 77

Old documents

Shares this section’s proper custody definition.

§ 81 · next

The e-Gazette

The presumptions run continues — maps, charts, and more.

lineage

IEA 1872, § 81

Carried forward — presumption as to Gazettes and newspapers.

Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 — Section 80: Presumption as to Gazettes, newspapers, and other documents