Accused Seeking To Secure Evidence To Lead At Appropriate Stage Of Trial Can't Be Called Unreasonable: Madhya Pradesh High Court

The Madhya Pradesh High Court this week observed that an accused can't be denied his right to adduce evidence within parameters of the law, and if accused wishes to secure the evidence to lead the same at the appropriate stage of the trial can't be said to be unwarranted or unreasonable.

The Bench of Justice Subodh Abhyankar was hearing a challenge to the order passed by the Sessions Judge, Ujjain rejecting an application filed under Section 91 of the Cr.P.C. to obtain the call details of the mobile numbers of the present applicant-Ajay and the other co-accused Monu.

The applicant wanted to get hold of the call details so as to prove that when the incident took place on March 24, 2019 he was not present on the spot.

Also, the CCTV footage of the Shankh Dwar Mahakaal Mandir and Harsiddhi Mandir dated March 24, 2019 between 6 to 7 p.m. had also been sought.

The said application too, had been rejected by the trial court on the ground that no reason had been assigned as to why it was being sought.

Court's observations

The Court opined that although the application under Section 91 of the Cr.P.C. had been filed at an early stage, the same had been filed to secure the record regarding the CCTV footage, call details and tower locations of the mobile numbers of the present applicant and the other co-accused Monu to ensure that they were present at some other place other than the place of the incident.

Therefore, the Court observed that an accused cannot be denied his right to adduce evidence within parameters of the law, and in the present case he is only seeking to secure the evidence which he might lead at the appropriate stage of the trial which cannot be said to be unwarranted or unreasonable.

In such circumstances, the Court directed the respondent to ensure that the aforesaid data regarding the telephone numbers of the present applicant-Ajay and Monu be secured, including the call details and the tower locations, as also the CCTV footage of Shankh Dwar Mahakaal Mandir, if they are not already deleted.

Case title - Ajay Nogare s/o Kailash Nogare v. State of Madhya Pradesh 

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