Prosecution has been using electronic evidence to seek conviction of accused for a decade but for the first time, the Supreme Court on Monday permitted an accused to bring on record taped telephonic conversations to prove his innocence in a child sexual abuse case.
The ruling assumes significance as the SC reversed concurrent decisions of a trial court and the Punjab and Haryana High Court which had rejected the accused's plea to produce recorded telephonic conversations between his wife and son with the girl's father to drive home that he had been framed because of a lingering property dispute with the girl's family.
The accused had moved the trial court to take on record a compact disc purportedly containing telephonic conversations between Sandeep Verma (the girl's father) and Saurabh (the accused's son) and Meena Kumari (the accused's wife). He had pleaded with the trial court to get its authenticity tested by a forensic laboratory and match it with voice samples taken from the persons featuring in the conversation.
Allowing the appeal by the accused, a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and P C Pant said the CD qualified to be treated as a document under the Evidence Act. "On a document filed by the defence, endorsement of admission or denial by the public prosecutor is sufficient and defence will have to prove the document if not admitted by the prosecution," it said.
The SC said the accused, Shamsher Singh Verma, had claimed during his examination that he had been implicated in the case due to a property dispute.
Though the SC refused to delve into the authenticity of the conversations, it said, "We are of the view that the courts below have erred in law in not allowing the application of the defence to play the compact disc relating to conversation between father of the victim and son and wife of the appellant (accused) regarding alleged property dispute.
"In our opinion, the courts below have erred in law in rejecting the application to play the compact disc in question to enable the public prosecutor to admit or deny, and to get it sent to the forensic science laboratory by the defence."
Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Pant said, "The appellant is in jail and there appears to be no intention on his part to unnecessarily linger the trial, particularly when the prosecution witnesses have been examined.
"Therefore, without expressing any opinion as to the final merits of the case, this appeal is allowed and the orders passed by the trial court and the HC are set aside. The application (for placing on record the compact disc and getting it examined by forensic laboratory) shall stand allowed. However, it is observed that the accused/appellant shall not be entitled to seek bail on the ground of delay of trial."
The ruling assumes significance as the SC reversed concurrent decisions of a trial court and the Punjab and Haryana High Court which had rejected the accused's plea to produce recorded telephonic conversations between his wife and son with the girl's father to drive home that he had been framed because of a lingering property dispute with the girl's family.
The accused had moved the trial court to take on record a compact disc purportedly containing telephonic conversations between Sandeep Verma (the girl's father) and Saurabh (the accused's son) and Meena Kumari (the accused's wife). He had pleaded with the trial court to get its authenticity tested by a forensic laboratory and match it with voice samples taken from the persons featuring in the conversation.
Allowing the appeal by the accused, a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and P C Pant said the CD qualified to be treated as a document under the Evidence Act. "On a document filed by the defence, endorsement of admission or denial by the public prosecutor is sufficient and defence will have to prove the document if not admitted by the prosecution," it said.
The SC said the accused, Shamsher Singh Verma, had claimed during his examination that he had been implicated in the case due to a property dispute.
Though the SC refused to delve into the authenticity of the conversations, it said, "We are of the view that the courts below have erred in law in not allowing the application of the defence to play the compact disc relating to conversation between father of the victim and son and wife of the appellant (accused) regarding alleged property dispute.
"In our opinion, the courts below have erred in law in rejecting the application to play the compact disc in question to enable the public prosecutor to admit or deny, and to get it sent to the forensic science laboratory by the defence."
Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Pant said, "The appellant is in jail and there appears to be no intention on his part to unnecessarily linger the trial, particularly when the prosecution witnesses have been examined.
"Therefore, without expressing any opinion as to the final merits of the case, this appeal is allowed and the orders passed by the trial court and the HC are set aside. The application (for placing on record the compact disc and getting it examined by forensic laboratory) shall stand allowed. However, it is observed that the accused/appellant shall not be entitled to seek bail on the ground of delay of trial."
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