SC for amendment of rules for furnishing soft copy of records in criminal appeals in death penalty, life term cases

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has suggested an amendment to include soft copies of the original records, requisitioned necessarily in criminal appeals involving death penalty and life imprisonment.

The top court also deprecated the practice of not producing the deposition of witnesses on record, causing unnecessary delay.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Sanjay Karol, in a judgment on November 9, said availability of soft copies would address the issue of repeated adjournments and facilitate a much quicker availability of such records to the court and would further ensure a more environmentally conscious approach.

According to Sub-Rules 2 & 3 of Rule 5 of the SC Rules, 2013, physical copies of the original records are to be called for, in criminal appeals involving sentence of life or the death penalty.

However, in all other cases, the calling of such records is subject to specific orders of a bench of this court.

"We deem it appropriate to deprecate the practice of depositions of material witnesses not being placed on record. Such practices often cause repeated adjournments, which goes to the root of pendency and delay in disposing of appeals. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to provide suggestions, in tackling this issue," the bench said.

The court suggested Sub-Rule 3 be amended to insert the words ‘soft copy’ before the words ‘original records’, resulting in e-copies of the original records being requisitioned, it said.

By necessary amendment to the Rules, such requisition of the soft copy of the record should be extended to cases where leave is granted against an order of acquittal or conviction, the court said.

Such soft copy of the records, once received should be provided to the counsel appearing for the parties, it added.

The court directed the Registry to place the order before the Chief Justice of India (CJI) for consideration and necessary action.

The bench passed the order while dismissing an appeal filed by Roy against his conviction and sentence of life term in a case related to the sale and mixing of methyl alcohol with spirit as part of the conspiracy, resulting in deaths of seven persons, blindness in 11 people, and injuries to more than 40 people in Kerala's Kollam district in April, 2003.