Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 · Chapter V: Of Documentary Evidence · Presumptions as to documents
Section 80: Presumption as to Gazettes, newspapers, and other documents
In plain words
The court must presume genuine any document that appears to be the Official Gazette, a newspaper or journal, or a document the law requires someone to keep, if kept substantially in the legal form and produced from proper custody.
- A document is in proper custody if it is kept where, and by whom, it should be, or if it has a legitimate or probably legitimate origin.
A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.
Official text
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.
Source: India Code (indiacode.gov.in), the consolidated text published by the Legislative Department, Government of India. Text as updated on India Code on 25 August 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.
Supreme Court judgments citing the section 80
No Supreme Court judgment in our database cites this section yet.