Court Can Allow Prosecution To Produce Certificate U/S 65-B (4) Evidence Act At A Later Stage During Trial: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court has observed that the trial court has the power to allow the prosecution to produce the certificates under Section 65-B (4) of the Indian Evidence Act at a later point of time during the trial.

The Bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh observed thus as it upheld the order of the trial court allowing an application filed by the prosecution under section 311 CrPC to bring on record two certificates under section 65-B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 as they were not filed in property form during the filming of the charge sheet.

It may be noted that Section 65B(4) of the Indian Evidence Act requires the production of a certificate for leading secondary evidence of an electronic record. This provision aims to sanctify secondary evidence in electronic form, generated by a computer.

The case in brief

One Shyam Sunder Prasad (Accused/Revisionist) was serving as the Branch Manager of Punjab National Bank. Allegedly, he demanded a bribe of Rs. 80,000/- from the complainant for defreezing the account. A complaint was made by the complainant in this regard.

Now, during the verification of the complaint, on 25-04-2014, when the complainant met and requested the accused revisionist for reducing the bribe amount, he agreed to accept the bribe of Rs. 50,000/- by cheque. This conversation was recorded and transferred into a blank Compact Disc.

A trap was laid and the accused revisionist was caught red-handed with a tainted bribe cheque. The conversation between the accused revisionist and the complainant was recorded during the transaction of the bribe cheque and the same was transferred into a blank Compact Disc. 

The C.B.I. after investigation of the offence, filed a charge sheet for the offences punishable under sections 7 & 13(2) read with section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against the accused revisionist in 2014. However, CBI did not file the certificate under section 65-B (4) in a proper format.

Now, in 2021 an application under Section 311 CrPC was filed to bring on record two certificates (in connection with Compact Discs containing the conversation b/w the complainant and the accused) under section 65-B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 as well as to recall the witnesses to prove those certificates.

The Court allowed the application, and therefore, aggrieved by the order, the accused/revisionist moved the HC with the instant revision plea challenging the order of the Special Judge, C.B.I. Court No. 6, Lucknow.