Electronic Evidence
Audio recordings in the form of cassettes—Admissibility of—Original instruments related to recordings, i.e. original digital voice recorders, original mini cassettes, original mini cassette recorder and compact cassette recorder, were neither sent to CFSL for forensic examination nor placed on record—No certificate under Section 65B of the Evidence Act has been placed on record by the prosecution to support the admissibility of their recordings—Audio recordings in the form of cassettes cannot be treated as admissible pieces of evidence. [Evidence Act, 1872, Section 65B]
[Paras 64, 65, 66 & 73]
Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988
Sections 7, 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d)—Illegal gratification—Proof of demand or acceptance—None of independent witnesses heard or saw any kind of demand or acceptance of bribe on part of appellant on two occasions—When the complainant was sole witness to the conversations and transaction of demand and acceptance of bribe and there are certain discrepancies in his version as to how the appellant had demanded bribe from him on both the days—Voice recordings and their transcriptions also do not reveal any demand made by appellant, which otherwise are also inadmissible in evidence—Demand and acceptance of bribe has not been clearly established by the prosecution—Evidence brought on record by prosecution was insufficient to return a finding of guilt against the appellant beyond all reasonable doubt—Appellant acquitted of offences of which he has been charged and convicted.
[Paras 74 & 75]
Section 19—Irregularities in sanction order—Effect of—Order of sanction should speak for itself and make it evident that sanctioning authority had gone through the entire set of record, relevant for the purposes of determining as to whether a prima facie case is made out against an accused, and then accorded sanction under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act—Sanctioning authority is required to peruse the entire record produced by the prosecution without any bias and then either provide the sanction or reject the request for sanction—Court shall not make the irregularities in the sanction order as the sole criteria for determining as to whether appellant is entitled to acquittal or not—Evidence on record and impugned judgment passed in light of the statement of the witnesses of the case will have to be anaylsed.
[Paras 24 to 29]