How to Prove a WhatsApp Chat or Email in Court Under the BSA (2026)

How-to · Evidence Law · BSA

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

You have a WhatsApp chat, an email, or CCTV footage that proves your point. The problem is that a screenshot on its own is often not enough. Indian courts treat such material as electronic evidence, and it must clear a specific rule before a judge will look at it. Skip that rule, and strong material is thrown out on a technicality. This is a step-by-step guide to admitting electronic evidence under Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA), which replaced Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 from 1 July 2024. It covers the certificate, the hash, custody, and the mistakes that sink cases. Last verified October 2026.

01Why a screenshot is not enough

A WhatsApp chat is stored on a phone, in a computer system, as data. When you print it, or take a screenshot, you create a copy of that data. The law calls the printout or the screenshot secondary electronic evidence, and it is easy to doubt, because digital data can be edited.

So the law asks for a safeguard. To rely on the printout or copy, you must show, through a certificate, that it was produced from a device that was working properly and that the content was not tampered with. Without that certificate, courts can refuse to admit the chat, however genuine it is.

02The rule in one line

Section 63 of the BSA says that a copy or printout of an electronic record is admissible, without producing the original device, if it is accompanied by a certificate that meets the section’s conditions.

The certificate is the key. No certificate, and the chat may never be looked at, no matter how genuine it is.

The Supreme Court, under the old Section 65B, held that this certificate is mandatory for secondary electronic evidence. The BSA carries that forward, and the text now uses the word "shall" for the certificate, which removes the old argument that it was only directory.

03Step 1: preserve the original device and record

Start by protecting the source. The strength of your evidence depends on a clean chain from the original.

• Keep the original device. Do not wipe, reset, or keep using the phone or computer in a way that changes the data. The device that holds the chat is the source.
• Do not edit the chat. Never crop, forward and re-save, or alter the message, because any change destroys the claim that it is a true record.
• Record who held it. Note who had the device, and when, so you can show custody later.

For the wider idea of keeping a clean trail, see chain of custody for electronic evidence.

04Step 2: take a clean copy and a hash

Next, create the copy you will actually file, and lock its integrity with a hash.

• Export, do not just screenshot. Where possible, export the chat and its attachments in full, with dates and times, rather than relying on cropped screenshots.
• Save to stable media. Copy the record onto a CD, DVD, pen drive, or hard disk that you can produce to the court.
• Generate a hash value. A hash is a unique fingerprint of a file. If even one character changes, the hash changes. Recording the hash lets you show the file was not altered after it was taken.

05Step 3: get the Section 63 certificate

This is the heart of the process. The certificate must be given by a person in charge of the device, or in charge of the management of the relevant activities, and it must state, in substance:

• how the electronic record was produced, identifying the device;
• that the device was used regularly to store or process information, and was working properly (or that any defect did not affect the record);
• the particulars that connect the record to the device;
• and it must be signed by the person in charge, and, under the BSA, by an expert where required.

The certificate should be in the form the BSA sets out. Get it as early as you can, because a missing certificate is the single most common reason electronic evidence fails. For the full rule, see electronic evidence under BSA Section 63.

06Step 4: file and tender it correctly

Finally, put it before the court in the right way.

• File the certificate with the record. Tender the printout or media together with the Section 63 certificate, so they go in as one.
• Prove it through a witness. Have the person who made the copy and the certificate available to depose and face cross-examination.
• Keep timing in mind. Courts have allowed the certificate to be produced at a later stage in some situations, but the safe course is to file it with the evidence. Do not rely on getting a late indulgence.
• Link it to relevance. Show why the chat is a fact in issue or a relevant fact, so it is not just admissible but useful.

On proving contents by a copy generally, see secondary evidence under BSA Section 58, and on the court presuming integrity, see presumptions about electronic records.

07Common mistakes

08Old law to new law: 65B to 63

The framework is not new. It carries over from the old Evidence Act, with a tightening.

The structure of the old Section 65B is preserved. The main changes are that the certificate requirement is now expressly mandatory, and the certificate carries an added signing requirement. So the case law built under 65B still guides how Section 63 is read.

09Where Claw fits

Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.

When a case stands or falls on a WhatsApp chat, an email or CCTV footage, you need to know how judges have treated the Section 63 certificate, its late production and the use of hash values. Claw search lets an advocate look across 30 crore+ judgments in under 5 seconds for exactly those rulings, under Section 63 and the old Section 65B, with Supreme Court decisions from 1950 and High Court decisions from 1990 within reach. Claw also follows cases, orders and hearings across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, so a matter that turns on electronic evidence can be tracked by party or advocate name. Start from the case search across Indian courts hub.

Claw does not give legal advice and does not replace your counsel, and it does not use customer case documents to train AI models. Create a free Claw account to find electronic evidence rulings and track your case by party or advocate name.

10Sources and further reading

• India Code (official text of the BSA, 2023): indiacode.nic.in
• Electronic evidence under the BSA (commentary): blog.ipleaders.in
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This how-to is general information, not legal advice. The law changes through amendments and judgments, so check the current text and take advice from counsel before you file.

11Frequently asked questions