Important Legal Definitions

Inferior substitute evidence (such as certified copies, photocopies compared with the original, or oral accounts of document contents) admitted only after establishing the loss, destruction, or adverse detention of the original primary document.

In J. Yashoda v. K. Shobha Rani, the Supreme Court held that photocopies of documents are admissible as secondary evidence only after the applicant lays the statutory factual foundation under Section 65 showing why the original primary document cannot be produced.