Prosecution produced CCTV recording to prove my presence in the apartment where the offence was committed. That CCTV recording was alleged to be taken from the apartment office. But as per my knowledge that recording was taken by prosecution from the mobile phone. No date is mentioned or otherwise appearing in that recording. Prosecution also did not mention from where he produced it. When the offence was committed, I was in Delhi. But I have no evidence to prove it. The offence was committed on 12-02-2019 and I was in Delhi between 23 January 2019 to 19 February. Please advise how to disprove prosecution evidence?
Asked from: Haryana
If the recording was not taken from CCTV, you can easily prove that the evidence is manipulated and false. You should raise an objection about its admissibility. When the evidence is produced by the party and the court is exhibiting that evidence then it is resistivity of the opponent to raise objection if that evidence is inadmissible.
The CCTV recording is a piece of electronic evidence. Therefore, the prosecution is bound to produce a certificate under section 65-B of the Indian evidence Act. If the prosecution did not submit certificate, you should raise an objection about its admissibility.
In Anvar P. V. vs P. K. Basheer 2014 and Mohammad Arif vs State of NCT Delhi 2023, the Supreme Court has held that electronic evidence shall not be admitted unless supported by certificate under section 65-B.
You must raise objection at this stage because if you fail then cannot raise such an objection at the later stage. In Dayamathi vs Shaffi 2004 the Supreme Court has held that objection should be raised at the time of admission of evidence but not at the later stage or in appeal.
If that recording was not taken from CCTV the prosecution cannot produce a certificate. In that certificate the prosecution is bound to state the particulars of the device, mode of copying that recording and to prove that the original recording is still stored in the orginal device.
If recording is taken from a mobile phone by concealing the date of recording the evidence itself will become inadmissible. If prosecution produced CCTV recording by concealing its original source, it will not be in position to produce a certificate. So, raising objection you can protect yourself from such false evidence.
Also read: Understanding electronic evidence
