Signed Carbon Copy Prepared In Same Process As Original Document Is Primary Evidence Under Sec.62 Evidence Act : SC
On this ground, the bench comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose set aside a judgment passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court which had refused to accept the signed carbon copy as original document.
The general rule of evidence is that the document itself should be produced in trial for proving it. As per Section 62, primary evidence means the document itself produced for the inspection of the Court.
The Explanation 2 to Section 62 states : "Where a number of documents are all made by one uniform process, as in the case of printing, lithography, or photography, each is primary evidence of the contents of the rest; but, where they are all copies of a common original, they are not primary evidence of the contents of the original."
In this case, the Supreme Court relied on Explanation 2 of Section 62. Since the carbon copy was prepared in the same process as the original document and was signed by the parties, the Court held that it can be treated as primary evidence.
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*The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 – Section 62 – Whether a carbon copy of a document which carbon copy is signed by both the parties assumes the character of the original document ?* _Mohinder Singh v. Jaswant Kaur, AIR 2019 SC 5760 : 2019 (3) SRC 39_ https://caselaw.in/supreme-court/carbon-copy-mohinder-singh-jaswant-kaur/8641/
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