NEW DELHI: Observing that the anti-money laundering law puts a negative burden on the accused to prove his innocence, Supreme Court Wednesday ruled that an accused is entitled to get a list of all documents and material collected by Enforcement Directorate (ED) during investigation, even those which are not relied upon by the agency while filing the complaint.
Furnishing of such documents can be helpful to an accused in defending his case and proving his innocence as those documents may contain exculpatory evidence in favour of an accused due to which the agency might not have relied upon it.
Holding that it is the fundamental right of an accused to have fair trial, a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka, Ahsanuddin Amanullah and A G Masih set aside Delhi HC order that only those documents relied upon by the agency should be handed over to an accused.
The bench held that the accused must also know about documents not relied upon by the agency, so that he could apply for their production and courts should be liberal in allowing them, and should deny only in exceptional circumstances.
"It is held that a copy of the list of statements, documents, material objects and exhibits that are not relied upon by the investigating officer must also be furnished to the accused. The object is to ensure that the accused has knowledge of the documents, objects, etc, in the custody of the investigating officer, which are not relied upon by them, so that at the appropriate stage, accused can apply by invoking Section 91 CrPC for providing copies of the documents which are not relied upon," Justice Oka said while reading out the operative part of the order.
The court said the right to have a fair trial includes the right of the accused to defend which consists of the right to lead defence evidence by producing documents and examining witnesses. "Therefore, the accused is entitled to exercise the right at the stage of entering defence by compelling the prosecution or a third party to produce a document or thing in their possession or custody. The court can decline the request of the accused for issuing process for the production of documents only on the limited ground under Section 233(3) CrPC (on ground that it is made for the purpose of vexation or delay or for defeating the ends of justice)," it held.
It said Section 232(3) of CrPC, which deals with the accused's right to apply for the issue of processes for compelling attendance of witnesses or production of documents or things, be liberally construed by courts in favour of the accused. "Therefore, if the special court refuses the prayer made by the accused in terms of Section 233(3) CrPC for compelling the attendance of any witness or for production of documents in possession of any party, the accused will not be in a position to discharge the onerous burden on him under Section 24 of the PMLA(which puts burden on accused to proof innocence). Hence, the valuable right of the accused under Section 233 CrPC needs to be protected," it said.
In this case, HC had said the court cannot, at the pre-charge stage, direct prosecution to furnish copies of documents other than that which it proposes to rely upon or which have already been sent to the court during investigation.
Furnishing of such documents can be helpful to an accused in defending his case and proving his innocence as those documents may contain exculpatory evidence in favour of an accused due to which the agency might not have relied upon it.
Holding that it is the fundamental right of an accused to have fair trial, a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka, Ahsanuddin Amanullah and A G Masih set aside Delhi HC order that only those documents relied upon by the agency should be handed over to an accused.
The bench held that the accused must also know about documents not relied upon by the agency, so that he could apply for their production and courts should be liberal in allowing them, and should deny only in exceptional circumstances.
"It is held that a copy of the list of statements, documents, material objects and exhibits that are not relied upon by the investigating officer must also be furnished to the accused. The object is to ensure that the accused has knowledge of the documents, objects, etc, in the custody of the investigating officer, which are not relied upon by them, so that at the appropriate stage, accused can apply by invoking Section 91 CrPC for providing copies of the documents which are not relied upon," Justice Oka said while reading out the operative part of the order.
The court said the right to have a fair trial includes the right of the accused to defend which consists of the right to lead defence evidence by producing documents and examining witnesses. "Therefore, the accused is entitled to exercise the right at the stage of entering defence by compelling the prosecution or a third party to produce a document or thing in their possession or custody. The court can decline the request of the accused for issuing process for the production of documents only on the limited ground under Section 233(3) CrPC (on ground that it is made for the purpose of vexation or delay or for defeating the ends of justice)," it held.
It said Section 232(3) of CrPC, which deals with the accused's right to apply for the issue of processes for compelling attendance of witnesses or production of documents or things, be liberally construed by courts in favour of the accused. "Therefore, if the special court refuses the prayer made by the accused in terms of Section 233(3) CrPC for compelling the attendance of any witness or for production of documents in possession of any party, the accused will not be in a position to discharge the onerous burden on him under Section 24 of the PMLA(which puts burden on accused to proof innocence). Hence, the valuable right of the accused under Section 233 CrPC needs to be protected," it said.
In this case, HC had said the court cannot, at the pre-charge stage, direct prosecution to furnish copies of documents other than that which it proposes to rely upon or which have already been sent to the court during investigation.
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