MAHAVEER Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The accused-appellant was tried by learned Additional Sessions Judge, Kishangarh Bas for committing the murder of Smt. Bali on Oct. 28, 1979. He was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for life.

(2.) We are not required to consider the facts in detail and all the circumstances brought forth on the record by the prosecution as this case can be disposed of on a preliminary point raised by the learned counsel for the appellant. We find considerable merit in the argument advanced by the learned counsel for the appellant that the postmortem report Ex P/15 relied upon by. that trial court for convicting the accused under Sec. 302 Penal Code cannot be read as substantive piece of evidence, as the statement of the Doctor, who performed autopsy on the dead body of Mst. Bali, was not recorded at any stage either during the course of enquiry or at the trial.

(3.) Sec. 294 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 provides for the admission of certain documents without formal proof. It requires each party to produce a list of documents and requires the opposite party to admit or deny the genuineness of all or any of these documents. Where the genuineness of any of the document is not disputed, such document can be read in evidence without proof of signature of the person by whom it purports to be signed. The Court can, however in its discretion, require such signature to be proved. A bare reading of section 294, Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, would reveal that it does not refer to a document which cannot be read as substantive piece of evidence. The notes of postmortem examination popularly known as postmortem examination report, are nothing but a contemporaneous record prepared by medical officer while performing the postmortem examination on a dead body. It can be used to corroborate the statement of the Doctor concerned under Sec. 157 of the Evidence Act. A Doctor can also use it to refresh his memory under Sec. 159 of the Evidence Act, or it can be used to contradict his statement in witness box under section 145 of the Evidence Act, If the Doctor is dead or is not available for examination in the court under the circumstances mentioned in Sec. 32 of the Evidence Act, the postmortem examination report is admissible under Clause (2) of section 32 of the Evidence Act.