WhatsApp Chats as Evidence in Indian Courts: How to Prove Them (BSA 63)

Screenshots are easy to dispute: they show only part of the conversation and are easy to alter. Prefer WhatsApp’s own “Export chat” (with or without media) and keep the exported .txt or .zip file exactly as produced. Screenshots can still be filed for convenience, but tie them to the exported file and its hash.

1. Do not delete the chat or change phones until the case is over — the device may need to be produced.
2. Export the chat from the phone that holds it, and note the date, time and the phone’s make, model and IMEI.
3. Calculate the SHA-256 hash of the exported file. EvidenceHash does it in your browser without uploading the file.
4. Prepare the Section 63(4) certificate: Part A by the phone’s owner/user, Part B by an expert who verifies the same hash. See our guide to the Section 63 BSA certificate format.
5. Print the relevant pages, mark them as extracts of the hashed file, and file them with the certificate.

• Cropped screenshots with no date, number or contact name visible.
• Forwarded copies of the chat instead of the chat on the original device.
• A hash taken of one file while a different copy is filed.
• No certificate at all, or one signed only by the party with no expert part.
• Translating the chat without filing the original-language text alongside.

The certificate proves the record is what it claims to be. Who wrote it is a separate fact: link the number to the person through call records, the SIM subscriber details, admissions, or the context of the conversation. Plan for both from the start.