Sections 123, 124 and 125 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872
Sections 123, 124 and 125 dealt with three related evidentiary protections: unpublished official records concerning affairs of State, communications made to public officers in official confidence, and protection of the source of information about offences.
Section 123 - Evidence as to affairs of State
Meaning: Section 123 concerned evidence derived from unpublished official records relating to affairs of State. Such evidence could not be given without permission from the head of the department concerned.
Statutory provision
No one shall be permitted to give any evidence derived from unpublished official records relating to any affairs of State, except with the permission of the officer at the head of the department concerned, who shall give or withhold such permission as he thinks fit.
The provision therefore focused on unpublished official records and required departmental permission before evidence derived from those records could be given. Its subject was the protection attached to official State records rather than a general rule excluding every government document.
Section 124 - Official communications
Meaning: Section 124 protected communications made to a public officer in official confidence where that officer considered that disclosure would harm the public interest.
Statutory provision
No public officer shall be compelled to disclose communications made to him in official confidence, when he considers that the public interests would suffer by the disclosure.
The section dealt with confidential official communications. Its language linked the protection to the public officer's consideration that public interests would suffer if the communication were disclosed.
Section 125 - Information as to commission of offences
Meaning: Section 125 protected specified public authorities from being compelled to reveal the source from which they received information concerning the commission of an offence. It also specifically covered information received by a revenue officer about offences against public revenue.
Statutory provision
No Magistrate or police-officer shall be compelled to say whence he got any information as to the commission of any offence, and no revenue-officer shall be compelled to say whence he got any information as to the commission of any offence against the public revenue.
Explanation: "Revenue-officer" in this section means any officer employed in or about the business of any branch of the public revenue.
The provision protected the identity or source of offence-related information by preventing compulsory disclosure by the Magistrate, police officer or revenue officer covered by the section.
Difference between Sections 123, 124 and 125
Section 123: unpublished official records relating to affairs of State.
Section 124: communications made to a public officer in official confidence where disclosure would, in the officer's view, harm public interests.
Section 125: the source of information received about commission of offences, including specified public-revenue offences.
Read together, these provisions formed part of the Indian Evidence Act rules governing protected official information and confidential sources. The precise protection depended on the character of the material: State records, official confidential communications, or information about offences.
Legal note: This article describes the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 framework before commencement of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. For proceedings governed by the later law, consult the applicable provisions of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023.