Can an accused invite section 91 Cr.P.C. to bring on record some documents before arguments on charge? 

Question: Can an accused invite section 91 Cr.P.C. to bring on record some documents before arguments on charge?

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Answer

Section 91 of the Code of Criminal Procedure deals with the power of the courts and police authorities regarding the search and seizure of documents or things. It states that-

(1) Whenever any Court or any officer in charge of a police station considers that the production of any document or other thing is necessary or desirable for the purposes of any investigation, inquiry, trial or other proceedings under this Code by or before such Court or officer, such Court may issue a summons, or such officer a written order, to the person in whose possession or power such document or thing is believed to be, requiring him to attend and produce it, or to produce it, at the time and place stated in the summons or order.

(2) Any person required under this section merely to produce a document or other thing shall be deemed to have complied with the requisition if he causes such document or thing to be produced instead of attending personally to produce the same.

In the case of Om Prakash Sharma v. CBI, Delhi AIR 2000 SC 2335, it was observed by the court that the powers conferred under Section 91 are enabling in nature aimed at arming the Court or any officer in charge of a Police Station concerned to enforce and to ensure the production of any document or other things necessary or desirable for the purposes of any investigation, inquiry, trial or other proceedings under the Code, by issuing a summons or a written order to those in possession of such material.

The language of Section 91 would, no doubt, indicate the width of the powers to be unlimited but the in-built limitation inherent therein takes it colour and shape from the stage or point of time of its exercise, commensurately with the nature of proceedings as also the compulsions of necessity and desirability, to fulfil the task or achieve the object.

The question, at the present stage of the proceedings before the Trial Court, would be to address itself to find whether there is sufficient ground for proceeding to the next stage against the accused.

If the accused could produce any reliable material even at that stage which might totally affect even the very sustainability of the case, a refusal to even look into the materials so produced may result in injustice, apart from averting an exercise in futility at the expense of valuable judicial/public time.

It is trite law that the standard of proof normally adhered to at the final stage is not to be insisted upon at the stage where the consideration is to be confined to find out a prima facie case and decide whether it is necessary to proceed to the next stage of framing the charges and making the accused to stand trial for the same.

This Court has already cautioned against undertaking a roving enquiry into the pros and cons of the case by weighing the evidence or collecting materials, as if during the course or after trial vide Union of India v. Prafulla Kumar Samal & Anr. [(1979) 3 SCC 4].

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