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Sudhir Chaudhary Etc. Etc. v. State (NCT of Delhi)

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal Nos. 700-701 of 2016)Decided 29 Jul 2016
Criminal Appeal Nos. 700-701 of 2016
Chief Justice T.S. Thakur · Justice A.M. Khanwilkar · Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud

Background

The appellants (television journalists, including a prominent news anchor) were booked under the IPC on an FIR alleging extortion-related offences connected to a sting operation involving coal-block allocation reporting. During investigation, the appellants consented to give voice samples to be compared with a disputed sting-operation audio recording, but objected when the police required them to read out a text drawn directly from the incriminating recording itself, fearing it amounted to compelled self-incrimination-like material. A trial court and later the Delhi High Court both upheld the investigating officer's approach, holding a voice sample is not evidence in itself and does not violate Article 20(3) once consent is given, which the appellants then challenged in the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that since the appellants had voluntarily consented to giving voice samples, they could not dictate the terms of investigation entirely, and some commonality of words with the disputed conversation was necessary for a valid spectrographic comparison. However, the Court recognised that the fairness of the process itself is protected under Article 21, and so it directed, after obtaining expert input from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in earlier interim orders, that the appellants be required to read out a text using some individual words, but not full sentences, from the disputed conversation. Having examined the sealed-cover transcripts and the proposed text submitted by the investigating officer, the Court found this fully complied with its directions, modified the High Court's order accordingly, and disposed of the appeals on these terms.

Lesson Learnt

Consenting to provide a voice sample during a police investigation does not amount to giving up all fairness protections: courts can and will fine-tune how such evidence is collected (e.g., avoiding verbatim incriminating sentences) to balance a fair investigation under Article 21 against the needs of forensic comparison.

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

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