HC stays trial in corruption case till accused is provided case-related vital documents

Read Order: Jaswinder Kaur v. Central Bureau Of Investigation

LE Correspondent

Chandigarh, August 10, 2021: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed a trial court, with regard to a matter pertaining to the Prevention of Corruption Act, that the proceedings before it will remain stayed till the time a cloned copy of voice sample and CCTV footage along with the forensic report are supplied to the accused to enable her to put up her defence to prosecution witnesses.

The High Court passed the direction after a petitioner, facing trial in a corruption case, contended that that the furnishing of documents to the accused under Section 207 of the CrPC is a facet of right of the accused to a fair trial enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India. 

“The petitioner is also granted liberty that in case any report comes in her favour, she may move an appropriate application for alteration of charge,” stated the bench of Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan. 

“Considering the fact that the matter is pending since long, the director, Central Forensic Science Lab, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi is directed to ensure that the requisite CFSL report is supplied to CBI within a period of 30 days from today,” the bench said.

The Bench disposed of the petition after issuing these directions.

During the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel relied upon P. Gopalkrishnan @ Dileep vs. State of Kerala and another to argue that while deciding an identical application, the Supreme Court held that on receipt of the police report under Section 173 Cr.P.C. along with the accompanying statements and documents, by virtue of Section 207 of the 1973 Code, the Magistrate is obliged to furnish copies of each of the statements and documents to the accused unless it is voluminous. 

The Apex Court had also held that the furnishing of documents to the accused under Section 207 of the 1973 Code is a facet of right of the accused to a fair trial enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India. It also held that when an objection is raised by an accused, the same be answered at the earliest and certainly before conclusion of the trial.

The petitioner further submitted that the approach of the Special Judge, CBI Court, Chandigarh in observing that at the stage of framing of charge only prima facie case is to be seen even if the copies of recorded conversations, CCTV footage, CFSL report are not provided to accused as CFSL report is pending, is contrary to settled procedure under Cr.P.C. 

The petitioner also submitted that awaiting the CFSL report, the trial court should not frame charge or start recording prosecution evidence as it is seen in many cases that after some document/electronic evidence is supplied to accused person at a later stage, the accused has to file application for further cross-examination of witness already examined and it delays the trial unnecessarily. 

The petitioner, a government employee, is facing charges under Sections 120-B IPC and Sections 7 and 7-A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, after she was named in an FIR registered on June 29, 2020.