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PART III ON PROOF · CHAPTER V OF DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE

Section 67: Proof of execution of document required by law to be attested

The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023

If a document is required by law to be attested, it shall not be used as evidence until one attesting witness at least has been called for the purpose of proving its execution, if there be an attesting witness alive, and subject to the process of the Court and capable of giving evidence:

Provided that it shall not be necessary to call an attesting witness in proof of the execution of any document, not being a will, which has been registered in accordance with the provisions of the Indian Registration Act, 1908 (16 of 1908), unless its execution by the person by whom it purports to have been executed is specifically denied.

Corresponding Evidence Act provision

As given in the correspondence table of the National Crime Records Bureau (Ministry of Home Affairs). Read both texts before relying on it. NCRB table

Questions on this section

5 questions in 18 of our papers cite Section 67. Try these from the free papers:

  1. 1. Consider the following statements under the BSA: 1. A document required by law to be attested cannot be used as evidence until at least one attesting witness has been called to prove its execution, if an attesting witness is alive, subject to the process of the Court and capable of giving evidence. 2. It is not necessary to call an attesting witness to prove a registered will unless its execution is specifically denied. 3. The admission of a party to an attested document of its execution by himself is sufficient proof of its execution as against him, even if the document is one required by law to be attested. 4. If the attesting witness denies the execution of the document, its execution cannot be proved by any other evidence. Which of the statements given above are correct?

  2. 2. To prove a will, the propounder examines only one of its two attesting witnesses, though the other is alive and available. The examined witness proves the testator's signature but does not depose that the other witness attested the will. The propounder relies on Section 70 of the BSA (proof by other evidence where the attesting witness denies or does not recollect execution). Following Janki Narayan Bhoir v. Narayan Namdeo Kadam (2003):

  3. 3. Assertion (A): An agreement which the law does not require to be attested, but which happens to bear the signatures of two attesting witnesses, may be proved without calling either attesting witness. Reason (R): Under Section 71 of the BSA, an attested document not required by law to be attested may be proved as if it was unattested.

Practise questions on Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam