The Techies (Student) 22 June 2017

Need help ascertaining the validity of evidence in mobile

Hello Everyone!

I have a mobile which has some sms messages and a few whatsapp chats which are evidences in a legal matter and they may have to be shown in the Court at a later stage. The problem is that the mobile has gone out of order and to repair it, the service centre people are saying that they will have to format the mobile!

Now, my query is that how can I save/store these sms and whatsapp chats in a state so that they shall be admissible in Court?

Solution what I could think of - I have the whatsapp chats mailed to my email id through this mobile. Will that be accepted as primary evidence?

Secondly, regarding the sms messages, I have an app which will create a backup of the messages and save it in my account on any cloud service. Again the query is that will that be admissible (If I retrieve the backup file and then take a print out of the message and submit).

Pls. suggest friends what should be done!

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4 Replies

Salman Shaikh 22 June 2017

Once the chats are backed up onto email or converted into any other format, the numbers will not be shown up. Hence, there is no legality of any such chats backed up other than the Original Msgs on Whatsapp and Text Message which shows the sender and the Recepient. Thanks.

Ms.Usha Kapoor (CEO) 23 June 2017

Unl;ess your Mobile evidenc is original copies of it is not admissible as evidence as it is secondary of secondary evidence It is not valid.Same with whatts applications chats.. Since they are not originals secondary evidenc eis not admissible.

The Techies (Student) 23 June 2017

Originally posted by : Salman Shaikh
	Once the chats are backed up onto email or converted into any other format, the numbers will not be shown up. Hence, there is no legality of any such chats backed up other than the Original Msgs on Whatsapp and Text Message which shows the sender and the Recepient. Thanks.

No! If you save the chat without contact name, then it will show the numbers! What if your phone stops working and you have to get it formatted? Your evidence destroyed?

The Techies (Student) 23 June 2017

Originally posted by : Ms.Usha Kapoor
	Unl;ess your Mobile evidenc is original copies of it is not admissible as evidence as it is secondary of secondary evidence It is not valid.Same with whatts applications chats.. Since they are not originals secondary evidenc eis not admissible.

Ma'm, it means that if we have something in our mobile to be used as evidence and if the mobile gets out of order, we are left with nothing as evidence?
This shouldn't be the case logically! You can't guarantee your mobile phone to keep working in a stable condition for years...