Presumption as to Gazettes, newspapers, private Acts of Parliament and other documents

Reference: The Indian Evidence Act
Section 81

The Court shall presume the genuineness of every document purporting to be the London Gazette or any Official Gazette, or the Government Gazette of any colony, dependency or possession of the British Crown, or to be a newspaper or journal, or to be a copy of a private Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom printed by the Queen’s Printer and of every document purporting to be a document directed by any law to be kept by any person, if such document is kept substantially in the form required by law and is produced from proper custody.

As far as newspapers are concerned:
1. Matters published in newspapers are hearsay. They are not admissible. They are not proof of the facts reported in them. (Ramswaroop Bagari v. State of Rajasthan, 2002)
2. The presumption of genuineness does not extend to the facts contained in the newspaper. (Ravinder Kumar Sharma v. State of Assam, 1999)
‘Proper custody’ is explained in the explanation to Section 90 as follows: ‘Documents are said to be in proper custody if they are in the place in which, and under the care of the person with whom, they would naturally be; but no custody is improper if it is proved to have had a legitimate origin, or the circumstances of the particular case are such as to render such an origin, probable.’ Further, in Deodem Neale v. Samples, 1838, it was held that ‘Proper custody’ means the custody of any person so connected to the deed that his possession of it does not excite any suspicion of fraud.