CHAPTER V.––OF DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE · PUBLIC DOCUMENTS

Section 74: Public documents

The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (repealed)

Repealed by the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (47 of 2023) with effect from 1 July 2024.

The following documents are public documents:––

(1) Documents forming the acts, or records of the acts––

(i) of the sovereign authority,

(ii) of official bodies and tribunals, and

(iii) of public officers, legislative, judicial and executive, ¹[of any part of India or of the Commonwealth], or of a foreign country;

(2) Public records kept ²[in any State] of private documents.

Footnotes in the official text

1.The original words “whether of British India, or of any other part of Her Majesty’s Dominios” have successively been amended by the A.O. 1948 and the A.O. 1950 to read as above.
2.Subs. by the A.O. 1950, for “in any province”.

Now in the BSA

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

74. Public documents.

BSA 74(1).

Leading cases

Y. Narasimha Rao v. Y. Venkata Lakshmi (1991)A foreign divorce decree passed by a court lacking jurisdiction under the Hindu Marriage Act, on a ground unknown to that Act, against a wife who did not submit to the forum, cannot be recognised in India.

Questions on this section

2 questions in 7 of our papers cite Section 74. Try these from the free papers:

1. A sale deed executed between two private individuals is registered, and it is copied into the register book kept at the office of the Sub-Registrar. Under Section 74 of the BSA, the entry of the deed in the Sub-Registrar's register book is:
2. Consider the following statements under the BSA: 1. Documents forming the acts, or records of the acts, of public officers, legislative, judicial and executive, of a foreign country are public documents. 2. An officer who, by the ordinary course of official duty, is authorised to deliver copies of a public document is deemed to have its custody for the purpose of giving certified copies. 3. A certified copy given under Section 75 need not state the name and official title of the officer who certifies it. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Practise questions on Criminal Law