Accused Entitled to Cloned Copy of CCTV Footage Filed With Charge-Sheet, Rajasthan High Court Holds

Amar Singh faces trial before the Additional Sessions Judge No. 1, Hindaun City, on a charge-sheet under Sections 147, 148, 149, 323, 341, 336, 365, 308 and 506 IPC (paras 3-4). The incident was recorded on CCTV, and the footage was collected by the Investigating Officer on a DVD and a pen drive and filed with the charge-sheet (para 8). These were not given to him with his copy of the charge-sheet (para 9). His application under Section 207 CrPC for them was rejected on 31 July 2023; he said the ground was that he had not asked for them when he received the charge-sheet (paras 3-4).

The Court held that Section 207 requires the prosecution to supply every document and piece of evidence on which it will rely, and that the Magistrate or trial judge must ensure full compliance (paras 10, 12-13). Relying on Hardeep Singh, Tarun Tyagi and Sidhartha Vashisht, it treated supply of documents as a facet of the accused's right to a fair trial under Article 21 (paras 13-15). All documents, including electronic records, filed with the police report that the prosecution proposes to use must be furnished, and this can be done by a cloned copy (para 16). "The contents of the DVD/pen drive being electronic record must be regarded as a document" (para 18). Without this material the accused cannot put up a proper defence (para 11). Where the privacy or identity of the complainant, a witness or the victim is involved, the court may allow inspection only, by the accused, the lawyer or an expert, and balance both sides (para 18). Applying the plain meaning of the statute, as in Nelson Motis, the impugned order was held unsustainable (paras 17, 19).