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Shamsher Singh Verma v. State of Haryana

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal No. 1525 of 2015)Decided 24 Nov 2015
Criminal Appeal No. 1525 of 2015
Justice Dipak Misra · Justice Prafulla C. Pant

Background

The accused was facing trial in a case alleging sexual offences against his nine-year-old niece under the IPC and the POCSO Act. In his defence, he asked the trial court to play a compact disc containing a recorded conversation between the victim's father, the accused's son and the accused's wife, which he said showed a property dispute and a motive for the false accusation. The trial court refused the application, and the High Court upheld that refusal.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court allowed the appeal and set aside the orders of the trial court and the High Court. It held that a compact disc is a "document" under the Evidence Act, so it can be admitted or denied through the counsel's endorsement under Section 294 CrPC and sent for forensic examination. The Court also found that the lower courts had wrongly denied the accused an opportunity to produce his defence material. It expressly declined to comment on the truth of the recording or on the merits of the prosecution case. The Court added that the accused could not claim bail on the ground of delay in the trial.

Lesson Learnt

An accused person has a right to produce relevant documents and recordings in their defence, and a court cannot refuse them without good reason. A recording or CD can be treated as a document, provided its voice identification and accuracy can be established.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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