Vidhara

The Indian Evidence Act, 1872

§53AEvidence of character or previous sexual experience not relevant in certain cases

– In a prosecution for an offence under section 354, section 354A, section 354B, section 354C, section 354D, section 376, [section 376A, section 376AB, section 376B, section 376C, section 376D, section 376DA, section 376DB] or section 376E of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) or for attempt to commit any such offence, where the question of consent is in issue, evidence of the character of the victim or of such person’s previous sexual experience with any person shall not be relevant on the issue of such consent or the quality of consent.]

Old law ⇄ new law

Share:WhatsAppTelegram

Source & version

Official text: India Code (official)

Official India Code text: The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872), English PDF (iea_1872.pdf) retrieved via Internet Archive Wayback Machine snapshot 2021-09-03 of indiacode.nic.in (portal unreachable from ingest network). Extracted via pdftotext 26.07 -bbox and @nexlex/ingest inline parser on 2026-07-15. Repealed by BSA 2023 w.e.f. 2024-07-01. Automated parse; footnotes/amendment history excluded; spot-verified; full clause-level proofread pending. Section 114B, inserted by Chhattisgarh Act 25 of 2015 and published as central law, was removed on 2026-08-02 and is now recorded as a State amendment (D-052/D-053).

How we verify this text →

Spotted a mistake in this text or its mapping? Report an issue with IEA §53A

Was this page useful for your prep?

Feedback