Section 71

Indian evidence law (originally under the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, and now the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023) sets out strict rules for proving documents that the law requires to be attested, such as wills or certain deeds — usually requiring at least one attesting witness to testify. But people often add witness signatures to documents out of caution or custom even when the law doesn't demand it, such as agreements, receipts, or letters. This provision clarifies that such voluntary, non-mandatory attestation doesn't drag the document into the stricter proof regime; it can be proved by ordinary means like admission of signature, handwriting evidence, or witness testimony about execution.

Under the corresponding provision in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (Section 72), courts have consistently held that the special, stricter rules for proving attested documents apply only when attestation is a legal requirement for the document's validity (as with wills or certain transfers of property). Where attestation is merely voluntary or customary, courts have treated the document as any other document and allowed proof by ordinary methods, without insisting that the attesting witnesses be called.

• Myth: If a document has witness signatures, the witnesses must always be brought to court to prove it.
  Fact: Courts have clarified that witnesses must be produced only when the law itself requires the document to be attested (like a will). If attestation was just voluntary, the document can be proved through ordinary evidence.
• Myth: Adding witness signatures to any document makes it more legally binding or harder to challenge.
  Fact: Adding witnesses to a document that doesn't legally require them does not change how it must be proved in court; it remains provable by normal means, such as signature identification or admission.