SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 19 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 5 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

We doubt SSC's key on this question.

Section 63(4) of the Adhiniyam requires a certificate signed by the person in charge of the device and an expert, not a digital signature, so the keyed option is looser than the Act; no option names the certificate, and this card follows SSC's key.

The answer below is still the option SSC's key marks, and we solve to that option.

Under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, what is required for digital evidence to be presented in court?

(a)It must be presented in hard copy form only
(b)It must come from a reliable, government-approved platform
(c)It must be accompanied by a valid digital signature
(d)It must be verified by a government official before submission

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The Adhiniyam treats electronic records as documents, and Section 63 sets how they are admitted: a certificate submitted with the record each time it is offered, signed by the person in charge of the device and by an expert.

Of the four options, only a signature accompanying the record points at that signed authentication, which is the reading the key takes: option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
It must be presented in hard copy form only — Section 63 treats information in an electronic record as a document whether it is printed, stored or copied, so hard copy only gets the Act backwards.
(b)
It must come from a reliable, government-approved platform — The Act sets no approved-platform test. What admits an electronic record is the Section 63 certificate about how it was produced, whatever the device.
(d)
It must be verified by a government official before submission — No government official vets the record first. The Section 63 certificate is signed by the person in charge of the device and an expert, and goes to court with the record.

Concept

The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 replaced the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and came into force on 1 July 2024. It treats electronic and digital records as documents.

Admissibility runs through Section 63, the successor to Section 65B of the old Act. Its certificate identifies the record, describes how it was produced and the device involved, and is signed by the person in charge and an expert, in the form given in the Act's Schedule.

The keyed wording is loose. The Act's own requirement is a certificate, not a digital signature, and SSC keys exactly that on 24 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.1.

Here no option says certificate, and (c) is the one that names a signed authentication, so answer on that reading.

Key facts

The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 replaced the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and came into force on 1 July 2024.
Section 63 of the Adhiniyam replaced Section 65B of the Evidence Act on the admissibility of electronic records.
The Section 63 certificate is signed by the person in charge of the device or activity and by an expert.

Study next

The three criminal laws of 2023: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya AdhiniyamPrimary and secondary evidence under the AdhiniyamElectronic signatures under the Information Technology Act, 2000

Common traps

Assuming a digital signature is the statutory test: the Act asks for a Section 63 certificate, so pick 'certificate' whenever a stem offers it.
Thinking electronic evidence needs a paper printout to count: the Act treats electronic records as documents.

Section 63 is also asked directly: 24 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.1 keys 'accompanied by a certificate', and 12 Sep 2025, 09:00, GA Q.17 keys digital and electronic evidence as the target of the Act's authenticity checks.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Current events — all 232 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.