4.
| (1) In any proceeding where direct oral evidence of a fact would be admissible, any contemporaneous recording reproduction thereof, tending to establish that fact shall admissible as evidence of that fact. If it is shown that-
| | (a) the recording or reproduction was made by the use of electronic or mechanical meant; | | |
| | (b) subject to subsection (3) of this section, the recording or reproduction is capable of being played, replayed, displayed or reproduced in such a manner so as to make it capable of being perceived by the senses; | | |
| | (c) at all times material to the making of the recording or reproduction the machine or device used in making the recording or reproduction, as the case may be, was operating properly, or if it was not, any respect in which it was not operating properly or out of operation, was not of such a nature as to affect the accuracy of the recording or reproduction; | | |
| | (d) the recording or reproduction was not altered or tampered with in any manner whatsoever during or after the making of such recording or reproduction, or that it was kept in safe custody at all material times , during or after the making of such recording or reproduction and that sufficient precautions were taken to prevent the possibility of such recording or reproduction being altered or tampered with, during the period in which It was in such custody. | | |
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| (2) If the conditions set out in subsection (1) are satisfied, the recording or reproduction shall be admissible in evidence or the fact recorded or reproduced, whether or not such fact was witnessed by any person. |
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| (3) Where any recording or reproduction referred to in subsection (1)-
| | (a) cannot be played, replayed, displayed or reproduced in such a manner so as to make it capable of being perceived by the senses; or | | |
| | (b) is capable of being so perceived but is unintelligible to a person not conversant in a specific science; or | | |
| | (c) is of such nature that it is not convenient to perceive and receive in evidence, in its original form, | | |
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| (4) A recording or reproduction shall be taken to have been made by the use of electronic or mechanical means, whether it was made by a single machine or device or by several machines or devices or by different machines or devices, in any combination, with or without the aid of any appropriate equipment or human intervention. |
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| (5) Where evidence is admissible under the preceding provisions of this section, a duplicate of such evidence shall be admissible in the same manner and to the same extent as the source from which the duplicate is made. |
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Sri Lanka Consolidated Acts