Source: https://law.geekupd8.com/2018/05/procedure-to-be-followed-by-Magistrate-CCTV-Footage-Video-recordings-produced-by-police.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 05:19:09+00:00

Document:
(a) Dhanaram (PW-1) and his deceased younger brother Gunaram were running a Pawn Broking & Jewellery Shop in the name and style of 'Balaji Pawn Brokers' at No.1, 13th Street, Sakthi Nagar, the place of occurrence.
"INJURIES: (1) Oblique incised wound seen over lower part of front and side of the neck measuring 11 x 3 cm., the left side end of the incised wound is acute and lies 1.5 cm to the left of midline. The incised wound extends to the right side of the neck crossing the midline below the thyroid cartilage to a point 6 cm below the right side mastoid process. Tailing seen at this point to a length of 3.5 cm. The margins of the wound are clean cut. On front the lower end of the Incised wound lies 4 cm above the suprasternal notch. The upper border of the incised wound lies 6.5 cm below the chin.
(11) Incised wounds 2 x 0.4 x skin deep over front of right index finger in proximal phalynx (12) Incised wound 0.5 x 0.3 x skin deep over front of middle of right middle finger (13) Scratch abrasions 4 x 0.2 cm seen on front of upper part of neck.
(16) On dissection on the head; Dark Red contusion 5 x 4 cm x 0.5 cm on back of head in the occipital region."
As to the cause of death, which is relevant under Section 7 of the Evidence Act, Dr.Selvakumar (PW-21) has stated that 'the deceased would appear to have died of shock and haemorrhage due to cut injury to the neck.'.
(n) Sahadevan (PW-27), Inspector of Police, Pallikaranai Police Station (hereinafter referred to as 'Pallikkaranai Inspector') took up the investigation in Cr.No.925 of 2012 and during interrogation, the accused disclosed about his involvement in this case. His confession statement was recorded and based on the disclosure made by him, in the presence of Chittibabu (not examined) and Balaji (PW-22), Pallikkaranai Inspector (PW-27) recovered 32 pieces of Gold Covering Chains (MO-1 series) and a T-Shirt with blue and ash colour horizontal stripes (MO-4) from the residence of Jaishankar (PW-13), a Police Constable, whose sister-in-law (wife's sister) was in love with the accused and was slated to marry him shortly.
e) The recording continuously goes on till the arrival of the police and thereafter (13:30 Hrs)."
"Item 5 We have carefully examined the face of the male individual wearing the T-Shirt in the Video footage (Item-5) at the time between 11.20 and 11.41 with a male individual seen in items 1, 2 and 3 using morphological study.
OBSERVATION The asymmetric eye brows, the deep root of the nose and the broad bridge of the nose seen in the face of the male individual in items 1, 2 and 3 are well correlated with the corresponding features seen in the face of the male individual in item 5.
OPINION The male individual seen in items 1, 2 and 3 could possibly have belonged to the male individual seen in item 5."
3. On appearance of the accused before the trial Court, provisions of Section 207 Cr.P.C. were complied with and the case was committed to the Court of Sessions in S.C.No.142 of 2013 and was made over to the III Additional District and Sessions Court, Tiruvallur @ Poonamallee, where charges for the offences under Sections 449, 302, 392 and 404 IPC were framed. When questioned, the accused pleaded "Not Guilty".
Conviction u/s Sentence imposed 449 IPC 10 years R.I.
392 IPC 10 years R.I.
404 IPC 3 years R.I.
302 IPC Death Sentence The sentences of imprisonment imposed for the offences under Sections 449, 392 and 404 IPC were ordered to run concurrently.
"A fact is said to be proved/disproved when, after considering the matters before it ............"
(emphasis supplied) Without viewing the CCTV footage, how can any Court, "consider the matter before it " to conclude that a fact has been 'proved' or 'disproved' ? That apart, Section 62 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 states, "Primary evidence means the document itself produced for the inspection of the Court."
11. Dhanaram (PW-1) deposed that his deceased brother Gunaram and he were into Pawn Broking and Jewellery business and were running 'Balaji Pawn Broking' at No.1, 13th Street, Sakthi Nagar; that on 14.4.2012 the deceased Gunaram opened the shop around 8.00 a.m. and around 9.00 a.m. he went to the shop and was there for some time, and later went to Sriram Finance, Virugambakkam; and that when he returned back to the shop, he found his brother on the floor in a pool of blood. When he raised an alarm, people from the neighbouring shop viz., Sahadev Prohith (PW-2), Varadarajan (PW-3), Selvi (PW-4), Kumar (PW-5) and Ashok (PW-7) gathered. It is not the case of the Prosecution that these witnesses had seen the assailant. PW-1 Dhanaram has further stated that the Police immediately played the Video Recorder and in the footage played he saw the accused. He also identified the 32 pieces of Gold Covering Chains (MO-1 Series) while in the witness box.
12. The fact that Gunaram's death was homicidal has been proved beyond any pale of doubt by the Prosecution, and that is also not seriously disputed by the defence. The only question that requires to be decided is, whether the accused was the perpetrator of the crime ?
(b) The next incriminating circumstance is the recovery of 32 pieces of Gold Covering Chains (MO-1 series) and horizontally striped T-Shirt (MO-4) by PW-27 from the residence of Jaishankar (PW-13) at the instance of the accused. At this juncture it may be relevant to discuss the evidence of Jaishankar (PW-13). PW-13 has deposed that he is a Police Constable in Nungambakkam Police Station and is living with his wife Kavitha and two children in the Police Quarters in the Thousandlights area; that his wife's sister Anjali was in love with the accused and wanted to marry him; that the accused would frequently come to his house and stay with them; that the accused told them that he needs money to go to Canada for higher studies, for which Jaishankar (PW-13) pledged his wife's jewellery and gave him Rs.9 lakhs on loan. Whileso, on 13.5.2012, Pallikaranai Police brought the accused to his house and seized 400 grams of jewellery and a T-Shirt; that he identified the covering jewellery as MO-1 Series and T-Shirt as MO-4; and that, on 18.5.2012 the Inspector of Police Maduravoyal Police Station brought the accused to his house and recovered a Jeans Pant (MO-3) and a knife (MO-5) in the presence of Mareeswaran (PW-14) and Manoharan (not examined).
23. Assuming for a moment that the photographs were taken in breach of certain procedural law, can it in any way vitiate the action ? In American jurisprudence, illegally collected evidence is best described as "fruit of the poisonous tree" and American Courts frown upon them (See: Nardone v. United States, 60 S.Ct. 266). The 94th Law Commission Report suggested to the Parliament to bring in similar provisions into our Legal System, which was not accepted by the Parliament. In State of M.P. through CBI, V. Paltan Mallah ((2005) 3 SCC 169 : 2005 (1) CTC 457 (SC)), the Supreme Court has discussed the 94th Law Commission Report and has categorically held that the evidence collected illegally or in violation of the procedural law will not become inadmissible. Very recently in Umesh Kumar v. State of A.P. ((2013) 10 SCC 591), the aforesaid principle was reiterated in connection with photographs and tape-recordings. Of course, it would have been an ideal situation had the Police adhered to PSO 646 or the provisions of Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920, but the ground reality is, Police in India do not work in ideal situations. In K.Ramaraj v. State by Inspector of Police, CBCID, Chennai ((2014) 2 MLJ (Crl) 41), a Division Bench of this Court to which one of us (PNPJ) was a party, deprecated the practice of Police taking photographs of the accused in the Police Station. The Court however did not hold that the photographs so taken becomes incapable of being used by the Experts for their analysis and opinion.
26. As a prelude, we feel it will be appropriate to quote the following passage from the book "Law of Evidence" by the celebrated author Vepa P.Sarathi (6th Edition, page 208). We quote, "The law, it is said, walks a respectable distance behind science, but courts try to keep abreast. The criminal is quick to use science to commit ingenious crimes, and so the police and the courts should be no less innovative; and courts should always encourage the police to do so and admit the evidence collected by any innovative method. The law courts can play an important role by (1) taking expert evidence to see whether the best scientific methods have been used, (2) by the Judge scrutinising the evidence carefully, and (3) encouraging the scientists, when the evidence is reliable, by giving judicial recognition to his methods."
27. Criminal Justice Delivery System is built upon the episodic memory of witnesses and their capacity to translate the data stored in their memory into human language, for the purpose of communication and understanding by the Judge for rendering justice. Episodic memory is broadly described by Prof.Sen Cheng from RUHR University, Bosch, Germany as "fairly accurate representation of personally experienced episodes." To put it in short, the opthalmic and auditory senses in human beings capture events and store them as memory in the brain. Thereafter the events can be narrated orally via a language. That is why, perhaps Jeremy Benthem called Witnesses as "eyes and ears of Justice" (See: State of M.P. v. Dharkole, 2004 AIR SCW 6241).
Words were put into the mouths of men who had been silent spectators during the whole short episode; actions were attributed to the chief participants of which not the slightest trace existed; and essential parts of the tragi-comedy were completely eliminated from the memory of a number of witnesses. Hence, the Professor concluded: We never know whether we remember, perceive, or imagine ."
"As a measure of crime control, the Government felt that Closed Circuit Television Units (CCTV) should be installed in all public buildings, commercial establishments and places where large gatherings of public congregate, which will be made mandatory as a condition for issuing licence under relevant provisions of Municipal Corporation/ Municipal Rules."
By virtue of these Rules, now it has become mandatory for Public Buildings to install CCTV cameras. Apart from the law's compulsion, presence of lensmen with sophisticated cameras is ubiquitous. We also have in abundance camera buffs who love recording anything and everything for posting in Facebook and Whatsapp. The Police cannot afford to lose these evidences collected by individuals and instead, rely upon archaic method of collecting evidence. Very recently in Tomaso Bruno v. State of U.P., (2015) 7 SCC 178, the Supreme Court acquitted the accused for the failure of the Police to produce the CCTV recordings, that being the best evidence. It may be necessary here to quote the relevant paragraph from the said judgment, which reads thus, "28. .............. Notwithstanding the fact that the burden lies upon the accused to establish the defence plea of alibi in the facts and circumstances of the case, in our view, the prosecution in possession of the best evidence, CCTV footage ought to have produced the same. In our considered view, it is a fit case to draw an adverse inference against the prosecution under Section 114 Illustration (g) of the Evidence Act that the prosecution withheld the same as it would be unfavourable to them had it been produced."
District Police, 05 Office Expenses, 06 Investigation Charges, (DP Code 2055 00-109AA 0565)"
For Chennai City: "2055-00 - Police-108 State Head Quarters Police-1 Non Plan AA - Commissioner of Police, 05 Office Expenses 06 Investigation Charges, (DP Code 2055 00-108AA 0565)"
"the expressions "Certifying Authority", "electronic signature", "Electronic signature Certificate", "electronic form", "electronic records", "information", "secure electronic record", "secure electronic signature" and "subscriber" shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Information Technology Act, 2000."
"2(i) "computer" means any electronic, magnetic, optical or other highspeed data processing device or system which performs logical, arithmetic and memory functions by manipulations of electronic, magnetic or optical impulses, and includes all input, output, processing, storage, computer software or communication facilities which are connected or related to the computer in a computer system or computer network."
2(o) "data" means a representation of information, knowledge, facts, concepts or instructions which are being prepared or have been prepared in a formalised manner, and is intended to be processed, is being processed or has been processed in a computer system or computer network, and may be in any form (including computer printouts magnetic or optical storage media, punched cards, punched tapes) or stored internally in the memory of the computer".
"2(r) "electronic form", with reference to information, means any information generated, sent, received or stored in media, magnetic, optical, computer memory, micro film, computer generated micro fiche or similar device."
"2(t) "electronic record" means data, record or data generated, image or sound stored, received or sent in an electronic form or micro film or computer generated micro fiche."
33. Strong reliance was placed by the learned Counsel appearing for the appellant/accused on the judgment of the Supreme Court in P.V.Anvar vs. P.K.Basheer, (2014) 10 SCC 473, where interpretation of Section 65A and 65B of the Indian Evidence Act came up for consideration and the Supreme Court held that an electronic evidence recorded in the CD, bereft of a certification under Section 65B is inadmissible in evidence. In para 24 of the said ruling it is held as follows, "24. The situation would have been different had the appellant adduced primary evidence, by making available in evidence, the CDs used for announcement and songs. Had those CDs used for objectionable songs or announcements been duly got seized through the police or Election Commission and had the same been used as primary evidence, the High Court could have played the same in court to see whether the allegations were true. That is not the situation in this case. The speeches, songs and announcements were recorded using other instruments and by feeding them into a computer, CDs were made therefrom which were produced in court, without due certification. Those CDs cannot be admitted in evidence since the mandatory requirements of Section 65-B of the Evidence Act are not satisfied. It is clarified that notwithstanding what we have stated herein in the preceding paragraphs on the secondary evidence of electronic record with reference to Sections 59, 65-A and 65-B of the Evidence Act, if an electronic record as such is used as primary evidence under Section 62 of the Evidence Act, the same is admissible in evidence, without compliance with the conditions in Section 65-B of the Evidence Act."
Defence will always complain of manipulation, but Courts can reject fanciful objections bearing in mind the principle underlined in Section 114 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. De omnibus dubitandum (doubt everything) philosophy may be a road to scientific discoveries, but not for judicial enquiries, where perfect proof is utopion. The celebrated Jurist late lamented Nani Palkhivala commented, "Our Legal System has made life too easy for criminals and too difficult for law abiding citizens. A touch here and push there and India may become ungovernable under the present Constitutional Set up."
"On playing back the recording continuously on the incident date 14.4.2012, the sequence of events that transpired (murder incident) are tabulated sequentially."
38. After playing the video and examining PW-6 the accused was questioned under Section 313 Cr.P.C. with respect to the evidence of PW-6 before us and the incident seen in the video recording, to which he gave standard replies, 'Lie'.
"404. Dishonest misappropriation of property possessed by deceased person at the time of his death.- Whoever dishonestly misappropriates or converts to his own use property, knowing that such property was in the possession of a deceased person at the time of that person's decease, and has not since been in the possession of any person legally entitled to such possession, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine, and if the offender at the time of such person's decease was employed by him as a clerk or servant, the imprisonment may extend to seven years."
Section 404 IPC falls within the sub-Chapter 'Of Criminal misappropriation of property' under the main Chapter XVII - 'Of Offences against Property'. From a reading of Section 404 IPC, it is clear that the ingredients of it cannot fit within the definition of the word "theft" or "robbery". This section applies to a situation where a person in a sly manner appropriates to himself a property in the possession of the deceased person at the time of his death. We are fortified in our view by the Division Bench Judgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Jamnadas Parashram v. The State of M.P., AIR 1963 M.P. 106, wherein in paragraph 34 it is held thus, "34. An argument arose during the course of the hearing whether the facts constituted an offence under Section 392 or under Section 404, Indian Penal Code. The basis for the argument was that in order to constitute 'robbery' all the elements of theft must exist and one of the ingredients of that offence, as defined in Sec.378 of the Penal Code is that the property stolen must have been in the possession of a "person". Now, in a case such as the one at hand it is difficult to hold precisely whether the articles were stolen before the murder or after it. In case the properties were taken by Jamnadas only after Mr.Raghuram breathed his last and was a dead body, could it be said that the offence committed was theft ? This argument at first appeared attractive (and we may also say that in another set of circumstances it may possibly be given effect to) but on a little reflection we find that where murder and robbery are committed in the course of the same transaction by the same person, the offence would fall under Sec.392 and not under Sec.404. In that context, the word "person" cannot be so narrowly construed as to exclude the dead body of a human being who was killed in the course of the same transaction in which theft was committed. The matter would be different if a thing is stolen from a dead body apart from the transaction in which death occurred. In our opinion, therefore, the offence committed by Jamnadas is punishable under Section 392, Indian Penal Code, and not under Section 404 of the Code."
41. Now we have to address the unenviable aspect of the case viz., the sentence. Mr.M.Jagadeesan, learned Counsel appearing for the appellant/accused fervently and passionately submitted that the accused is an engineering graduate and there are possibilities of reformation. He also submitted that this is not "Rarest of Rare case" for sentencing the accused to gallows.

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