Public Prosecutor vs Ponnu Kudumban and Others

Somasundaram, J.—Under Rule 325, Criminal Rules of Practice, copies of any portion of the record of a criminal case must be furnished to

the parties concerned on payment of prescribed charges for the stamp paper which is required for the record in question. In these cases to avoid

delay, the case diary appears to have been shown to the advocate of the accused, so that if need be, he can use it for cross-examining the

prosecution witnesses. If this is not done, as the accused is entitled to copies of statement made u/s 162 for cross-examination, he shall have to be

given these copies first and then only the cross-examination can be taken up. This will undoubtedly lead to long delays. To avoid this, case diary is

shown to the other side so that he can use it for cross-examining the witnesses without any adjournment, and further delay. If afterwards, copies

are not required the accused need not furnish the stamp papers or the prescribed charges. There is no obligation on the part ,of the accused to

apply for these copies, not even after being shown to him in court before the advocate commenced cross-examination. Simply because the case

diary was shown to the Advocate for the accused so that he can straightway cross-examine the witnesses, without waiting for copies of it, it does

not mean that they should be compelled to apply for it and furnish stamp papers or pay the prescribed charges. The simple rule is that whoever

wants copies of any record, he must pay for it. If in this case, the accused did not want copies any more they cannot be compelled to pay for it and

take these copies.

With these observations, the petition is dismissed.