GUWAHATI: The Gauhati high court has directed the Assam government to issue appropriate office memorandum within four weeks indicating the standard operating procedure (SOP) by way of guidelines for submission of case diaries before the high court as well as the subordinate courts, when called, and return the same to complete the investigation within the stipulated time. The SOP formulated by the state government was brought on record during the hearing.
The division bench of Chief Justice RM Chhaya and Justice Soumitra Saikia on Tuesday was hearing a suo motu PIL registered in 2020 after the high court had to grant default bail to two persons arrested under the NDPS Act in that year after the investigating officer did not call for the return of the case diary for the completion of the case and file the charge sheet within the stipulated time, thereby permitting default bail.
It is pertinent to mention that the high court had sent the order copy of the bail to the Assam DGP, director general of prosecution, chief secretary and Narcotic Control Bureau’s Guwahati zonal director, with the hope that “the police authorities will improvise some mechanism to ensure that the case diary in serious offences be recalled by the investigating officers so as to complete the investigation within the stipulated period”.
The division bench asked the state government to ensure that “the guidelines provided in the SOP are adhered to both by public prosecutors as well as the Assam Police in its true letter and spirit”.
Advocate Pankaj Protim Dutta, who argued for the Gauhati high court in the case, said, that the high court has also directed the state government to complete the installation of the very high frequency (VHF) stations in the court premises of eight districts, Kamrup (Metro), Nagaon, Barpeta, Silchar, Dhubri, Hojai, Tezpur and Karimganj, and make those operative as early as possible, preferably by June 30.
“The direction has been given to hasten the process of submission of case diaries before the court, when called, and return for the completion of the investigations by the investigating officers so that no person gets the benefit of default bail due to the lapse on the part of the investigating officer in any case,” the advocate said.
A case diary is a record of daily investigation into a case. Under the provision of Section 172 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), a police officer conducting the investigation is required to maintain a record of the investigation done on each day in a particular case.
A court can ask for the case diary as part of the trial. However, the case diary may not as such be used as evidence during the trial as it is used to aid the trial.
The division bench of Chief Justice RM Chhaya and Justice Soumitra Saikia on Tuesday was hearing a suo motu PIL registered in 2020 after the high court had to grant default bail to two persons arrested under the NDPS Act in that year after the investigating officer did not call for the return of the case diary for the completion of the case and file the charge sheet within the stipulated time, thereby permitting default bail.
It is pertinent to mention that the high court had sent the order copy of the bail to the Assam DGP, director general of prosecution, chief secretary and Narcotic Control Bureau’s Guwahati zonal director, with the hope that “the police authorities will improvise some mechanism to ensure that the case diary in serious offences be recalled by the investigating officers so as to complete the investigation within the stipulated period”.
The division bench asked the state government to ensure that “the guidelines provided in the SOP are adhered to both by public prosecutors as well as the Assam Police in its true letter and spirit”.
Advocate Pankaj Protim Dutta, who argued for the Gauhati high court in the case, said, that the high court has also directed the state government to complete the installation of the very high frequency (VHF) stations in the court premises of eight districts, Kamrup (Metro), Nagaon, Barpeta, Silchar, Dhubri, Hojai, Tezpur and Karimganj, and make those operative as early as possible, preferably by June 30.
“The direction has been given to hasten the process of submission of case diaries before the court, when called, and return for the completion of the investigations by the investigating officers so that no person gets the benefit of default bail due to the lapse on the part of the investigating officer in any case,” the advocate said.
A case diary is a record of daily investigation into a case. Under the provision of Section 172 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), a police officer conducting the investigation is required to maintain a record of the investigation done on each day in a particular case.
A court can ask for the case diary as part of the trial. However, the case diary may not as such be used as evidence during the trial as it is used to aid the trial.
