Section 3 of the Evidence Act defines the term “evidence, ” which means any oral statement given by a witness before the court will be oral evidence. Any document produced by parties for court inspection will be said to be documentary evidence. Therefore, the Evidence Act talks about two types of evidence i.e: oral and documentary.
It is important to bear in mind that nowhere under the Evidence Act is mentioned that “documentary evidence is preferred over oral evidence” nor concept of “exclusion of oral evidence by documentary evidence” interpreted in such a way. Yes, the Evidence Act does expressly mention that “primary evidence preferred over secondary evidence” but makes it clear in mind that be it primary evidence or secondary evidence both are documentary evidence. Oral evidence and documentary evidence both have equal weightage.
Section 91 of the Evidence Act gives us the doctrine of exclusion means oral evidence are excluded when any transaction is entered into writing. In other words, for any document oral evidence is not allowed and this is called “exclusion of oral by documentary evidence”
According to section 91 of the Evidence Act, if any contract, grant, or other disposition of property is reduced though not required by law to be documented parties out of caution reduced into a document or as per law it is mandatory for any contract, grant or other disposition of property to be documented and thereby parties documented it, in either case only documentary evidence is allowed as primary evidence and if conditions of section 65 of the Evidence fulfils then secondary evidence. But oral evidence is completely excluded and is not allowed as evidence.
For instance, A sold his immovable property to B, for immovable property documentation is essential according to the provision of the Transfer of Property Act, so therefore, in the future any dispute arises between A and B then the written contract entered between them is admissible as evidence and no oral evidence allowed regarding the terms on which they decided to sale and purchase the said immovable property.
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