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2015 DIGILAW 834 (KER)

State of Kerala v. Unni

2015-07-07

BHASKARAN PILLAI SUDHEENDRA KUMAR, K.T.SANKARAN

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ORDER : K.T. Sankaran, J. 1. These Criminal Appeals are being heard by us from 11/06/2015 onwards. There were twelve accused persons in the Sessions Case, of whom, accused Nos. 9, 10 and 11 were acquitted. Against the conviction and sentence the accused have filed the Criminal Appeals. DSR No. 8 of 2009 is the Death Sentence Reference in respect of accused No. 1. While hearing the Criminal Appeals, we had occasion to notice that in many cases, the records sent from the lower Courts were not arranged in a proper manner. In the cases on hand, PW 1 to PW 118 and DW 1 to DW 6 were examined in the Court below and Exts. P1 to P304 and 01 to 029 were marked. The records were sent up along with an index. The index contains 890 items. In a separate index, 23 numbers of registers and other documents are shown. Two additional indices were also sent. The index is prepared in a very casual manner. It could be said that the Record Clerk concerned had numbered and indexed whatever paper came to his hands and numbered and serial number assigned. For example, item No. 1 in the index is FIR and FIS, item No. 2 is scene mahazar, item Nos. 3 to 5 are inquest reports, item NO. 6 is the vehicle mahazar and item No. 7 is the property list. Then comes, a Criminal Miscellaneous Petition and affidavit as item Nos. 8 and 9. Item No. 11 is the remand application. Item No. 14 is vakalath. Item No. 15 is a bail application. The documents marked in the case are also not arranged in seriatim. For example, after Ext. P1, Ext. P79 is indexed. Then comes, Exts. P22, P8, 06, P21, P80, P280, P216, P217 to P221, P223, P222, P82 and P224. These items are shown as a sample. As regards the depositions of witnesses, the position is still worse. The documents marked in the case are also not arranged in seriatim. For example, after Ext. P1, Ext. P79 is indexed. Then comes, Exts. P22, P8, 06, P21, P80, P280, P216, P217 to P221, P223, P222, P82 and P224. These items are shown as a sample. As regards the depositions of witnesses, the position is still worse. PW 1 is seen as item No. 297 A, PW 2 as item No. 299, PW 3 as item No. 301, PW 4 and PW 5 as item No. 306, PW 6 and PW 7 as item No. 311, PW 8 and PW 9 as item No. 325, PW 20 as item No. 341, PW 22 and PW 23 as item No. 354, PW 24 and PW 25 as item No. 359, PW 26 and PW 27 as item No. 365, PW 28, PW 29 and PW 30 as item No. 371, PW 34, PW 35 and PW 36 as item No. 387, etc. The Court charge is indexed as item No. 225. 2. Paper books are furnished, in which, more than 50 documents are not included. It is recorded therein that those documents are kept separately. With great difficulty, the staff in the Section as well as the Court Officer could trace out the documents, some of which are not seen indexed also. No readable copy of those documents are furnished. In spite of the several days' of hard work, even now, it is not easy to trace out a particular document from the voluminous case records. 3. We are of the view that the lower Court records in respect of Criminal Appeals should be arranged in a proper manner so that time of the Court as well as that of the officers and staff of the High Court would not be unnecessarily wasted in searching out and locating documents. The records can be arranged easily while sending the records from the lower Court. We suggest that the lower Court records may be arranged in the following manner: "1. Final Report under Section 173(2) Cr. P.C. 2. Court charge. 3. Deposition of witnesses for the prosecution in serial order (PWs. 1 to.....) 4. Exhibits marked on the side of the prosecution. (Exts. P1 to....) 5. Deposition of defence witnesses (DW 1 to....) 6. Exhibits marked on the side of the defence (Exts. D1 to....) 7. Court Exhibits (Ext. X1 to......) 8. P.C. 2. Court charge. 3. Deposition of witnesses for the prosecution in serial order (PWs. 1 to.....) 4. Exhibits marked on the side of the prosecution. (Exts. P1 to....) 5. Deposition of defence witnesses (DW 1 to....) 6. Exhibits marked on the side of the defence (Exts. D1 to....) 7. Court Exhibits (Ext. X1 to......) 8. Statement of the accused under Section 313 Cr. P.C. 9. Remand Reports." The other items can be shown in the index date wise so that those documents can be easily located. If the records are arranged as mentioned above, any document can be traced out without wasting time and it can be made available before the Judges hearing the cases promptly. It is also necessary that the Subordinate Criminal Courts shall scrupulously follow Rules 259 to 262 of the Criminal Rules of Practice in Kerala. All the Subordinate Courts are directed to see that the records are sent in the manner indicated above. Registry will communicate a copy of this order to all the District and Session Judges, who will see that copies of the order are circulated among all the Judicial Officers in their respective Districts.