THE STATE Vs. RANBIR SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) DURING the course of committal proceedings in a case under Section 302, Indian Penal Code, against Ranbir Singh, Respondent, he applied to the Court of the committing Magistrate for being supplied, free of charge, copies of certain documents including the statements of some witnesses which were said to have been recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. An objection was taken on behalf of the State to the claim for free supply of copies of the aforesaid statements under Section 164, Code of Criminal Procedure, on the ground that the prosecution was not going to rely on those statements. The learned Magistrate by his order, dated 4th September 1964, overruled the objection of the prosecution and directed supply of the copies in question free of charge under Section 173(4) of the Code. Against that order, the State filed a petition for revision in the Court of the Sessions Judge, Hoshiarpur.

(2.) SHRI R.S. Bindra, learned Sessions Judge, has passed an order, dated 17th October, 1964, recommending the acceptance of the revision petition by this Court. He also gave an interim direction suspending the operation of the Magistrate's order, so that the committal proceedings and the trial of the case may not be delayed. As a result of the said interim direction the trial of the case has proceeded to conviction of Ranbir Singh, accused under Section 326 of the Indian Penal Code and I am informed that his appeal against the said conviction and the sentence imposed on him is now pending in this Court.

(3.) THE solitary question arising for consideration in this case is whether the words "on which the prosecution proposes to rely" also qualify "the statements recorded under Section 164, Code of Criminal Procedure" or only qualify the category of documents described as "all other documents or relevant extracts thereof" before the word "including" in Section 173(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.