Facts in Issue and Relevant Facts under Section 3 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023: Meaning, Scope and the Rule of Exclusive Relevancy

Section 3 is the gateway provision of the Adhiniyam. It opens Part II, it states what may be proved, and by three words at its end it states what may not. Everything in Sections 4 to 50 exists to give content to the expression 'declared to be relevant' in Section 3, and everything in Parts III and IV assumes that the gateway has already been passed.

1. The Provision

Section 3, BSA — Evidence may be given of facts in issue and relevant facts

Evidence may be given in any suit or proceeding of the existence or non-existence of every fact in issue and of such other facts as are hereinafter declared to be relevant, and of no others.

Explanation. — This section shall not enable any person to give evidence of a fact which he is disentitled to prove by any provision of the law for the time being in force relating to civil procedure.

Section 3 corresponds to Section 5 of the Indian Evidence Act and is carried forward without material change. The marginal note has been simplified but the operative words are identical.

1.1 The Illustrations

Illustration	Substance
(a)	A is tried for the murder of B by beating him with a club with the intention of causing his death. At A's trial the following facts are in issue: A's beating B with the club; A's causing B's death by such beating; A's intention to cause B's death
(b)	A suitor does not bring with him, and have in readiness for production at the first hearing of the case, a bond on which he relies. This section does not enable him to produce the bond or prove its contents at a subsequent stage of the proceedings, otherwise than in accordance with the conditions prescribed by the Code of Civil Procedure

Illustration (a) identifies the facts in issue in an ordinary homicide trial and shows that they are supplied by the ingredients of the offence. Illustration (b) explains the Explanation: Section 3 confers a permission, not an entitlement, and it does not override the procedural bars contained in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

2. The Three Limbs

Limb	Effect	Governed by
'Every fact in issue'	Evidence may be given of the existence or non-existence of any fact from which a right, liability or disability asserted or denied necessarily follows	Section 2(1)(g); the substantive law and the pleadings or the charge
'Such other facts as are hereinafter declared to be relevant'	Evidence may be given of any fact connected with a fact in issue in a manner recognised by the statute	Section 2(1)(k); Sections 4 to 50
'And of no others'	Evidence may not be given of any other fact, however probative it may appear	The rule of exclusive relevancy

2.1 The first limb — facts in issue

Section 2(1)(g), BSA

'Facts in issue' means and includes any fact from which, either by itself or in connection with other facts, the existence, non-existence, nature or extent of any right, liability or disability, asserted or denied in any suit or proceeding, necessarily follows.

Explanation. — Whenever, under the provisions of the law for the time being in force relating to civil procedure, any Court records an issue of fact, the fact to be asserted or denied in the answer to such issue is a fact in issue.

The facts in issue are not determined by the Adhiniyam. In a civil suit they are fixed by the pleadings, and the court records them as issues under Order XIV of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. In a criminal trial they are fixed by the charge read with the substantive law, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 supplying the ingredients of the offence. A fact admitted on the pleadings ceases to be in issue, and Section 53 provides that facts admitted need not be proved.

2.2 The second limb — relevant facts

Section 2(1)(k), BSA

One fact is said to be 'relevant' to another when the one is connected with the other in any of the ways referred to in the provisions of this Adhiniyam relating to the relevancy of facts.

Head of relevancy	Sections	Substance
Same transaction	4	Res gestae — facts so connected with a fact in issue or a relevant fact as to form part of the same transaction, whether occurring at the same time and place or at different times and places
Occasion, cause and effect	5	Facts which are the occasion, cause or effect of a fact in issue or a relevant fact, or which constitute the state of things under which it happened, or which afforded an opportunity for its occurrence
Motive, preparation and conduct	6	Motive; preparation; and the previous or subsequent conduct of a party or of a person against whom an offence was committed
Explanatory and introductory facts	7	Facts necessary to explain or introduce a fact in issue or a relevant fact, to establish identity, to fix time or place, or to show the relation of the parties
Conspiracy	8	Things said, done or written by a conspirator in reference to the common design
Facts not otherwise relevant	9 and 10	Facts inconsistent with a fact in issue, facts making it highly probable or improbable, and facts enabling the court to determine the amount of damages
Rights and customs	11	Facts asserting or denying the existence of a right or custom
State of mind or body	12	Intention, knowledge, good faith, negligence, rashness, ill-will or good-will, and states of body or bodily feeling
Accident or intention	13	Facts bearing on whether an act was accidental or intentional
Course of business	14	The existence of a course of business according to which an act naturally would have been done
Admissions and confessions	15 to 25	Statements suggesting an inference as to a fact in issue or relevant fact
Persons who cannot be called	26 and 27	Dying declarations, other statements of persons who cannot be called, and evidence given in a former proceeding
Special circumstances	28 to 32	Entries in books of account, public records and registers; statements in maps, charts and plans; statements in Acts and notifications
Judgments of courts	34 to 38	Judgments in probate, matrimonial, admiralty and insolvency jurisdiction; judgments on matters of a public nature; and other judgments in the circumstances specified
Opinions of third persons	39 to 45	Expert opinion, and opinion as to handwriting, electronic signature, custom, usage and relationship
Character	46 to 50	Character in civil cases; good character of an accused; bad character of an accused only in the cases specified

2.3 The third limb — 'and of no others'

These three words convert the catalogue in Sections 4 to 50 into a closed system. The consequence is that relevancy under the Adhiniyam is not merely a question of logic. A fact may make a fact in issue substantially more probable and still be inadmissible, because the statute has not declared it relevant.

	Logical relevancy	Legal relevancy
Basis	Ordinary reasoning and probability	Statutory recognition under one of the heads in Sections 4 to 50
Scope	Wider	Narrower
Relationship	Every legally relevant fact is also logically relevant	Not every logically relevant fact is legally relevant
Example	That an accused has a criminal record makes it marginally more probable that he committed the offence charged	Section 49 excludes evidence of the bad character of an accused except in the specified cases; the fact is not legally relevant

The reasons for narrowing the field were stated by the draftsman of the 1872 Act, and they hold equally under the Adhiniyam: to prevent laxity in the admission of evidence, and to confine the enquiry to the matters actually in dispute. Facts of marginal probative worth lengthen trials, distract the tribunal, and in criminal cases carry a serious risk of prejudice.

3. The Explanation to Section 3

The Explanation preserves the operation of the procedural bars contained in the law relating to civil procedure. Section 3 permits evidence of relevant facts, but it does not entitle a party to lead evidence he is separately disentitled from leading.

Bar	Provision	Effect
Documents not produced with the plaint or written statement	Order VII Rule 14 and Order VIII Rule 1A, Code of Civil Procedure, 1908	A document not produced when it ought to have been shall not be received in evidence without the leave of the court
Documents not produced at or before the settlement of issues	Order XIII Rule 1, Code of Civil Procedure, 1908	Documentary evidence must be produced at the stage prescribed; later production requires leave and good cause
Evidence beyond the pleadings	Order VI, Code of Civil Procedure, 1908	A party cannot lead evidence on a plea he has not taken, however relevant the fact might otherwise be
Res judicata	Section 11, Code of Civil Procedure, 1908	A matter directly and substantially in issue in a former suit between the same parties cannot be reagitated

⚠ The direction of the Explanation

The Explanation operates in one direction only. It prevents Section 3 from being used to defeat a procedural bar. It does not work in reverse: nothing in the Code of Civil Procedure makes an irrelevant fact relevant, and compliance with the procedural rules does not render admissible what the Adhiniyam excludes.

4. Fact in Issue and Relevant Fact Distinguished

	Fact in issue	Relevant fact
Definition	Section 2(1)(g)	Section 2(1)(k)
Source	The substantive law and the pleadings or the charge	Sections 4 to 50 of the Adhiniyam
Connection with the right or liability	The right, liability or disability necessarily follows from it	It is connected with a fact in issue in a manner the statute recognises; the conclusion follows only as an inference
Classical name	Factum probandum — the fact to be proved	Factum probans — the fact by which it is proved
Necessity	Must be proved for the party bearing the burden to succeed	Need not be proved; a party may succeed without it if the fact in issue is otherwise established
Number	Fixed and limited by the pleadings or the charge	Open-ended, limited only by the heads of relevancy
Burden of proof	Attaches to it	Does not attach directly
Effect of failure	The party bearing the burden fails on that issue	Only the inference is weakened

Section 3 treats both alike: evidence may be given of either. The distinction becomes material at three points. The burden of proof under Sections 104 and 105 attaches to facts in issue, not to relevant facts. A finding must ultimately rest on the facts in issue, so proof of any number of relevant facts is of no use unless they support a conclusion on a fact in issue. And in a case resting on circumstantial evidence, the relevant facts must together form a chain complete enough to establish the fact in issue.

5. Section 3 and the Rest of the Adhiniyam

Section 3 answers only the first of the questions a trial court asks about a piece of material. It is a gateway and not a warrant.

Question	Answered by	Consequence of failure
May evidence of this fact be given at all?	Section 3, read with Sections 4 to 50	The evidence cannot be received; the fact is outside the enquiry
Does any rule of law exclude it notwithstanding its relevance?	Sections 23, 47, 127 to 137 and other exclusionary provisions	The evidence is inadmissible although relevant
Has the prescribed mode of proof been followed?	Sections 54 to 63 and the Schedule	The evidence is inadmissible in the form tendered
Who decides these questions?	Section 141 — the Judge shall admit the evidence if he thinks that the fact, if proved, would be relevant, and not otherwise	An error is examined under Section 169
What weight does the material carry?	Judicial assessment at the conclusion of the trial	The finding fails on the merits

📖 Ram Bihari Yadav v. State of Bihar, (1998) 4 SCC 517

Held: The expressions 'relevancy' and 'admissibility' are often used as synonyms, but their legal implications are distinct and different. More often than not, facts which are relevant may not be admissible. Rules of procedure and of evidence are handmaids of justice, and where the substance of the matter is clear a court should not permit an evidentiary irregularity which does not go to the root of the matter and causes no prejudice to defeat the ends of justice.

Ratio: Passing the gateway in Section 3 establishes relevancy only. Admissibility is a separate question governed by the later provisions.

📖 Kalyan Kumar Gogoi v. Ashutosh Agnihotri, (2011) 2 SCC 532

Held: The word 'evidence' is used in common parlance in three senses — as equivalent to relevant, as equivalent to proof, and as equivalent to the material on which the court acts in reaching its conclusion. The statutory definition adopts the third sense.

Ratio: Relevancy and proof are distinct. That a fact is relevant means only that evidence of it may be given, not that any conclusion follows from it.

6. Res Inter Alios Acta

A principle closely associated with Section 3 is res inter alios acta alteri nocere non debet — a transaction between others ought not to prejudice a person who was no party to it. The rule of exclusive relevancy gives effect to it. Acts and statements of third parties are not evidence against a party unless the statute makes them relevant.

Situation	Position under the Adhiniyam
Statement of a stranger to the proceeding	Not relevant unless brought within a head such as Section 4, 26 or 39
Admission by a party's agent or by a person from whom the party derives interest	Relevant under Sections 15 to 21, which extend admissions to specified categories of persons
Statement of a conspirator in reference to the common design	Relevant under Section 8, because the parties are treated as acting in concert
Confession of a co-accused in a joint trial	May be taken into consideration under Section 24, but is not substantive evidence and cannot found a conviction
Judgment in a proceeding between other parties	Not relevant except in the cases specified in Sections 34 to 38

7. Related Topics and Provisions

Topic or provision	Connection
Fact, Fact in Issue and Relevant Fact	The three concepts examined in detail, with a worked illustration
Relevancy and Admissibility of Evidence — Difference	What happens after the gateway in Section 3 is passed
Doctrine of Res Gestae — Section 4	The first and widest head of relevancy
Important Definitions under Section 2, BSA	Sections 2(1)(f), (g) and (k) in full
Sections 4 to 50, BSA	The heads of relevancy that give content to Section 3
Section 141, BSA	The Judge decides admissibility, and admits evidence only if the fact, if proved, would be relevant
Section 169, BSA	Effect of the improper admission or rejection of evidence
Order VI, Order VII Rule 14, Order XIII Rule 1 and Order XIV, Code of Civil Procedure, 1908	The procedural rules preserved by the Explanation, and the framing of issues