Accused Has Right To Inspect "Un-relied Upon Documents" To Avail Fair Trial : Supreme Court

While allowing the bail plea of former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in relation to the liquor policy case, the Supreme Court today observed that to ensure right to fair trial, an accused cannot be denied the right to have inspection of prosecution documents, including the Un-relied Upon Documents.

"It is to be noted that there are around 69,000 pages of documents involved in both the CBI and the ED matters. Taking into consideration the huge magnitude of the documents involved, it cannot be stated that the accused is not entitled to take a reasonable time for inspection of the said documents. In order to avail the right to fair trial, the accused cannot be denied the right to have inspection of the documents including the “un-relied upon documents," said the bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan.

The observation came as the trial Court had recorded a finding against Sisodia that he took three months' time (rom 19th October 2023 to 19th January 2024) for inspection of Un-relied Upon Documents despite repeated directions to conclude the same expeditiously. In appeal, this finding was endorsed by the Delhi High Court.

On the strength of the same, it was Additional Solicitor General SV Raju's contention during the hearing of the case that Sisodia filed hundreds of applications before the trial Court for the supply of Un-relied Upon Documents, even though they were not required prior to commencement of the trial, and hence was guilty of delay.

Rejecting the same, the Supreme Court recorded that Sisodia filed only 13 applications in the CBI matter and 14 in the ED matter. Most of them were for supply of missing documents and legible copies, while some were for the inspection of Un-relied Documents.

It was noted that most of Sisodia's applications were allowed by the trial Court and when the ASG was asked to show any order where it was recorded that any of the applications was frivolous, "not a single order could be pointed out".

The top Court concluded that Sisodia was entitled to take a reasonable period of time to inspect the Un-relied Upon Documents.

The finding that an accused must be allowed inspection of Un-relied Upon Documents to ensure free trial deems significance in the context of allegations levelled in Manish Sisodia's and Arvind Kejriwal's cases that ED put certain documents in Un-relied Upon Documents and withheld exculpatory material.

Other reports on the judgment can be read here.

Case Title:

[1] Manish Sisodia v. Directorate of Enforcement, SLP(Crl) No. 8781/2024;

[2] Manish Sisodia v. Central Bureau of Investigation, SLP(Crl) No. 8772/2024

Citation : 2024 LiveLaw (SC) 563

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