New Delhi: The Supreme Court has suggested that the rules should be amended to include soft copies of the original records, requisitioned necessarily in criminal appeals involving the death penalty and life imprisonment, to facilitate quicker availability of records.
A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Sanjay Karol referred to Supreme Court Rules, 2013, which concern criminal appeals, and added that a perusal of sub-Rules 2 & 3 of Rule 5, shows that physical copies of the original records are to be called for, in criminal appeals involving sentence of life or the death penalty.
“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. This would facilitate a much quicker availability of such records to the court as also further a more environmentally conscious approach”, said the bench, in a judgment passed on November 9.
The apex court said that the necessary amendment to the rules, such requisition of the soft copy of the record be extended to cases where leave is granted against an order of acquittal or conviction. “Such soft copy of the records, once received, be provided to the learned counsel appearing for the parties. We direct the Registry to place a copy of this judgment before Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India for his kind consideration and appropriate directions, should he deem fit”, said the bench.
The apex court made these suggestions while upholding the Kerala High Court judgment awarding imprisonment for life to two accused convicted of alcohol poisoning, which led to the death of 7 innocent people, blindness in 11 people, and more than 40 people sustaining injuries. The tragedy occurred on April 9-10, 2003.
The apex court was informed that one of the appellants, Sajeev, passed away on September 24, 2023, therefore his conviction stood abated. “The bail granted to A11 (Roy), the other accused before the court, by this court vide order dated June 30, 2016, stands cancelled and the appellant is directed to surrender before the Court concerned forthwith”, said the bench. Sajeev and Roy had moved the apex court against the high court judgment passed on July 23, 2010. They were convicted under Sections 302, 307, 326 and 120B IPC and 57(A)(1)(ii) of the Abkari Act. “There can be no doubt left about the involvement of the accused persons before us, in the sale and mixing of methyl alcohol with spirit as part of the conspiracy, resulting in deaths and injuries to many innocent persons”, said the apex court, upholding the conviction of the accused.
The bench noted that testimonies of the witnesses highlighted by the amicus curiae indicate the presence of the accused on the spot at least few days prior to the occurrence of the incident, and the accused being present on the spot in relation to the supply of the spirit. “The accused/convicts knowing that they were being in full knowledge of the substance supplied by them to be of poisonous/prohibited in nature and permitted the noxious substance to be mixed with liquor, likely to endanger human life...Convict A11 (Roy) having forged the record concerning the supply of the poisonous/prohibited substance”, said the bench.
The apex court concluded that the conclusion and conviction arrived concurrently by the high court and the trial court regarding the role played by these accused persons in this tragedy does not suffer from any infirmity and does not warrant the interference of this court.
Also read:
