Evidence of the oral statement of a person other than the witness who is testifying and statements in documents offered to prove the truth of what was asserted. In general hearsay evidence is inadmissible. But this principle is subject to numerous exceptions. The main exceptions are incorporated in sections 32-38, 55, and 157 of the Evidence Act, 1872.

In its legal sense ‘Hearsay’ Evidence is all evidence which does not derive its value solely from the credit given to the witness himself but which rests also, in part, on the veracity and competence of some other person. [Taylor on Evidence, (9th Ed. 368)]

Though hearsay evidence is not evidence of the fact deposed to yet in certain circumstances it can be looked to for some collateral purposes and can not just be shut out. [SM Quamruzzaman vs. State (1981) 33 DLR 156]