Handing CCTV evidence to police: Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam

By Gankya · 4 October 2026 · 6 min read

When police ask a society or campus for CCTV footage, the security team often copies a clip to a pen drive and hands it over. Months later, the same footage may be needed in court, and questions follow: Where did this file come from? Has it been changed? Who signed for it?

Since 1 July 2024, the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA) has replaced the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Section 63 of the BSA now covers electronic records such as CCTV footage, in place of the old Section 65B. Here is what it asks for, and how a site can prepare footage so it is easier to rely on later.

What Section 63 says, in short

Section 63 lets information in an electronic record, such as a CCTV export, be treated as a document and admitted in evidence without producing the original device, if certain conditions are met. Those conditions, in Section 63(2), include that:

• The device was used regularly to create or store that kind of information, by the person who had lawful control over it.
• Information of that kind was regularly fed into it in the ordinary course of activity.
• It was working properly, or any problem did not affect the record or its accuracy.
• The record reproduces, or comes from, that information.

A recorder running round the clock at a gate is a typical example.

The certificate

Section 63(4) requires a certificate to be submitted along with the electronic record each time it is submitted for admission. The certificate identifies the record, describes how it was produced, gives details of the device, and deals with the conditions above. It must be signed by a person in charge of the device or the management of the relevant activities (whichever is appropriate) and an expert, in the form given in the Schedule to the Act.

The Schedule has two parts:

• Part A, "to be filled by the Party". The signer gives their name and address, ticks the type of source (the form lists options including Computer/Storage Media, DVR, Mobile, Flash Drive, CD/DVD, Server and Cloud), gives the make, model and serial number, confirms the device was under lawful control and working properly, states whether they own, maintain, manage or operate it, and gives the hash value of the record and the algorithm used (the form lists SHA1, SHA256, MD5 or another legally acceptable standard). A hash report is to be enclosed. It ends with date, time in IST (24-hour format) and place.
• Part B, "to be filled by the Expert", repeats the device and hash details and is signed with name and designation.

Who counts as the "expert" for Part B has been argued in court. In May 2026, according to published law reports, the Supreme Court upheld the validity of Section 63(4) in Pune Bar Association v. Union of India, and indicated that a person with special skill in computer science and cyber forensics may sign Part B, not only a government-notified examiner. We have read reports of this order but not the order itself, so ask your lawyer how it applies to your case.

In many criminal cases the police and prosecution arrange the certificate. A site's job is usually to supply the footage properly, and to have the person in charge ready to fill in and sign Part A if asked.

Hash values in plain words

A hash value is a digital fingerprint for a file. A tool such as SHA-256 reads the file and produces a fixed-length string of letters and numbers. If even one bit of the file changes, the fingerprint changes completely. So if the hash recorded on the day of export matches the hash of the file produced in court, that is strong evidence the file has not been altered.

You do not need special software:

• On Windows, open Command Prompt and run certutil -hashfile "clip.mp4" SHA256.
• On Linux, run sha256sum clip.mp4; on a Mac, shasum -a 256 clip.mp4.

Write the result on your export record, print it, and enclose it with the files.

Copies: keep the original untouched

• Export once from the recorder into a "master" folder. Never edit, trim, convert or rename files in it.
• Hash every master file immediately after export.
• Make working copies for viewing. If someone needs a shorter clip, cut it from a copy and record that it is derived.
• Give police a copy on new, clean media, with the hash list. Keep the master safely under an incident hold.
• Do not hand over your only copy. Police may also seize the recorder itself; get a written seizure memo or receipt if they do.

The BSA also says that where a video recording is stored and at the same time transmitted to another place, each stored recording is primary evidence (Section 57, Explanation 6). Keep your recorder's own data safe as well as your exports.

Chain of custody

"Chain of custody" is the record of who had the evidence, from export until it reaches the police. Keep a simple form for each item:

Every handover gets a new line and two signatures.

What to record on the day

• The written request from police, if any (under Section 94 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, an officer in charge can require production of documents or devices by written order).
• Recorder details: make, model, serial number, who owns and maintains it, where it is installed.
• Whether the recorder had any faults or downtime in the period, from your camera log.
• The recorder's clock offset at the time of export.
• The cameras and time windows exported, and the file names.
• Hash values and the algorithm used.
• Who exported, who witnessed it, and who received the copy.

This is the information Part A of the certificate asks for. Gathering it on the day is much easier than reconstructing it a year later.

Common mistakes

• Recording the monitor on a phone instead of exporting.
• Converting files to a "more compatible" format before hashing.
• No note of the recorder's wrong clock, so times do not match other evidence.
• Handing over footage with no receipt.
• Footage overwritten because nobody placed a hold.

Gankya can produce a police evidence PDF for an incident, listing the files with their SHA-256 fingerprints and including a blank Section 63 BSA certificate page to print, fill in and sign. It is a starting point, not legal approval, so please have a lawyer check it. To see it on your site, ask about a 30-day pilot.