Seizure Memo Loses Credibility If Prepared At Police Station And Not Place Of Recovery: Rajasthan High Court
Rajasthan High Court recently granted bail to an accused booked for attempt to murder and under the NDPS Act, observing that the credibility of the seizure memo loses its significance if it was not prepared at the same place from where the recovery was made but was taken by the police to the police station to prepare the same.
The bench of Justice Farjand Ali was hearing a bail application filed by the accused wherein the vehicle of the accused was intercepted by the police in which certain quantity of contraband material was recovered leading to apprehension of the accused.
The Court highlighted the fact that during cross-examination, the seizing officer mentioned that all the memos including seizure memo, recovery memos, etc were prepared in the police station. The Court considered this fact to be the one putting a dent on the prosecution case since it was required by law that recovery memo needs to be prepared at the same place from where the recovery was made.
“The admission made by the above witnesses has put a serious dent on the story of the prosecution to the effect that a vehicle was intercepted by the police at a particular place and time and certain quantity of contraband got recovered from it. In order to sanctify the search and seizure of contraband, it was expected from the Seizure Officer to prepare the memos at the crime place…Law requires that if certain thing is recovered at a particular place on the given time then the memos should be prepared at the same place in the presence of witnesses and accused.”
The Court made reference to the case of Kamlesh Kumar v Union of India in which the search and seizure was not conducted at the place where the vehicle was intercepted and no explanation was furnished for doing the same. It was held that sanctity of the seizure was highly doubtful making it seem as if the seizure/recovery memo could be prepared as a mere paper formality whenever convenient.
The Court further ruled that if any incriminating material was collected or recovered from a particular place and at a particular time then the seizure memo/recovery memo should have been prepared at the same place and that too in the presence of the witnesses of the same locality. A slight departure or deviation could be permitted but it cannot be allowed that after recovery, the police takes the material to the police station situated far away and there prepares the seizure memo.
“In that situation, the purity, originality, genuineness and virtuousness would be lost and at the same time, there would be serious aspersions regarding fairness and genuineness of factum of seizure.”
In this background, the Court allowed the bail application of the accused.
Title: Major Singh v State of Rajasthan
Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Raj) 173