Bomaby High Court has observed that the procedure under Section 200 Cr PC is non-adverserial and the statement made therein is not a piece of substantial evidence to be used to contradict or discredit the complainant.
A bench of Justice Naidu passed the order in the case titled as Doshi Brothers vs The State of Maharashtra on 23.07.2019.
In an appellate proceeding, the High Court faced a hurdle in disposal as the counsel for accused argued that statement recorded under Section 200 CrPC was not available before the appellate court.
High Court posed the question as "does the non-availability of the R&P from the trial Court stymie the appellate proceedings? Indeed, the unavailability of a material document may prove fatal to the appeal proceedings for either party may stand prejudiced. I will confine the discussion to the document the respondent-accused wanted to have access to: the complainant’s statement under Section 200 of Cr PC".
High Court then observed "While taking cognizance of an offence, the Magistrate examines the complaint on oath and the witnesses present if any. Then, the Magistrate reduces to writing only “the substance of such examination”. This substance aids the Magistrate to form a prima facie opinion about the case. In other words, it is to discover the truth or otherwise of the allegations made. It is for deciding the question purely from the complainant’s viewpoint, with no reference to the possible defence. Thus, the procedure under Section 200 Cr PC is non-adverserial. And what is recorded is not the complainant’s verbatim statement, only the substance or gist. Therefore, it is not a piece of substantial evidence to be used to contradict or discredit the complainant".
This judgment has been brought to our notice by the Advocate Sh.Jatin Premji Shah.
Read the Judgment here:
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