SC: Leaked evidence discussed on TV interferes with trial
NEW DELHI: Taking serious exception to evidence in a criminal trial getting leaked and discussed in television debates, the Supreme Court has warned investigating officers and media that such conduct will amount to dereliction of duty and interference in administration of criminal justice.
The court’s observations were made on Tuesday as it acquitted four people accused of committing dacoity at a Bengaluru residence in 1999. Although a trial court in Karnataka awarded death penalty to the accused in 2010, the Karnataka high court in 2017 commuted the punishment to life sentence. The top court granted the relief to the accused, citing “missing links” in the evidence presented by the prosecution Observing that a statement of accused recorded by police on a DVD was shared and subsequently aired by a private television channel in 2001, a bench of justices U U Lalit and P S Narasimha said: “Allowing the said DVD to go into the hands of a private television channel so that it could be played and published in a programme is nothing but dereliction of duty and direct interference in the administration of justice.”
“Any such debate or discussion touching upon matters which are in the domain of courts would amount to direct interference in administration of criminal justice,” it added. “The public platform is not a place for such debate or proof of what otherwise is the exclusive domain and function of Courts of law.” As per law, the statement recorded by police on a DVD was in the nature of a confession to an officer and carried no evidentiary value.
Expressing concerns over the manner in which the prosecution recorded the evidence, the bench said: “The investigating machinery could have facilitated recording of confession by producing them before a magistrate for appropriate action in terms of Section 164 of The Code (of Criminal Procedure). Any departure from that course is not acceptable and cannot be recognised and taken on record as evidence.”An elderly woman was killed and her gold ornaments were stolen in the dacoity which took place on October 28, 1999 under Vijayanagar police station in Bengaluru. Initially, nine people were tried for committing the crime, punishable under Section 396 of the IPC. While one of the accused died during trial, four others were acquitted by a trial court in September 2010. The remaining four were awarded death sentence.
Taking note of an appeal moved by the four people who were awarded death sentence, the Karnataka high court in 2017 said it did not find sufficient reasons to affirm the punishment and commuted the same to life imprisonment under section 394 (acts of causing hurt while committing robbery) of IPC.In 2018, the accused moved Supreme Court against the high court’s order on life imprisonment, saying the evidence collected by the prosecution was not sufficient to convict them in the case.