Crime scene videos a must: SC to examine

New Delhi, Jan. 10: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it is looking forward to examine whether videography of any crime scene can be mandatorily done and how it can become an admissable evidence in a court of law.

The moves comes after the top court shed its cloak of opaqueness last year and successfully prodded the Centre to install CCTV cameras in courts to record judicial proceedings.

It said the only point that needed to be decided is that instead of simplifying, the effort does not create any hindrance for the prosecution.

“We have to see how the videography of a crime scene, which will become an electronic record, becomes an admissable evidence in the court of law without the requirement of certification under section 65( B) of Indian Evidence Act,” a bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and U. U. Lalit said.

The SC had earlier framed the question for consideration that “whether the only mode of proof of electronic evidence is as per Section 65( A) read with Section 65( B) or whether the said provisions are additional permissible mode of proof of an electronic record.”

Section 65( B) of Indian Evidence Act says that electronic records need to be certified by a person occupying a responsible official position for being admissible as evidence in any court proceedings.

Attorney- general K. K. Venugopal, whose assistance was sought by the court, said there were various verdicts of the apex court and different high courts which needed to be looked into before going into this aspect.