Indian Evidence Act,

The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (IEA) was the law governing admissibility of evidence in judicial proceedings in India for over 150 years. Drafted by Sir James Fitzjames Stephen and enacted in 1872, it set out the doctrines of relevancy, admissibility, oral and documentary evidence, burden of proof, estoppel and the examination of witnesses. It was superseded prospectively by the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA) with effect from 1 July 2024.

The act runs to roughly 170 sections, organised into 11 chapters. Although the BSA has replaced the IEA prospectively, the IEA continues to apply to proceedings that were already pending on 1 July 2024, and its extensive case law remains persuasive under the corresponding BSA provisions.

This page indexes the full text of every IEA section, retained for reference, research and pending proceedings. Use the search above to find a section by keyword (e.g. “hearsay”, “dying declaration”) or by section number. Use the BSA converter to find the BSA provision that corresponds to a given IEA section.