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28. I am of the view this evidence is not only substantive evidence but can be also a preferred evidence in case of difference in the testimony of a witness have may claim to have seen an incident and the a videograph showing the said event. It is submitted once it is admitted in evidence it can standalone even in the absence of any other substantive or corroborative evidence. It was laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Sh. N. Sri Rama Reddy Vs Sh. V. V. Giri in reference to a tape recorded conversation, while approving the decision in one Scottish case " From the above decision it is apparent that the tape itself is primary and direct evidence admissible as to what has been said and picked up by the recorder." What is true of tape record is certainly true of a video tape. Indeed in this age of surveillance cameras it is not uncommon to find where "camera" is the only witness and video footage may be the only piece of evidence.

35. As one would notice the main focus is on inquiry being directed towards finding out as to whether the tape recorded conversation is "free form tampering and mutiliation". Second aspect is more for putting the investigating officer on notice that the evidence not collected properly would lead the court to view it with "care and caution".

36. I would like to make reference to the Judgment of the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi in the case Deepak Kumar Vs State Crl. Appeal No. 1315 of 2011 decided on 09.01.2012 wherein the previous judgments on the subject had been referred and following conditions were laid down by the Hon'ble High Court for admitting a tape recorded conversation in evidence:

a) The voice of the speaker must be duly identified by the maker of the record or by others who recognize his voice.

Where the maker has denied the voice it will require very strict proof to determine whether or not it was really the voice of the speaker.

b) The accuracy of the tape recorded statement has to be proved by the maker of the record by satisfactory evidence direct or circumstantial.

c) Every possibility of tampering with or erasure of a part of a tape recorded statement must be ruled out otherwise it may render the said statement out of context and, therefore, inadmissible.

d) The statement must be relevant according to the rules of Evidence Act.

e) The recorded cassette must be carefully sealed and kept in safe or official custody.

f) The voice of the speaker should be clearly audible and not lost or distorted by other sounds or disturbance.

37. The above conditions can be broadly divided in two parts. Conditions (a), (d) and (f) relate to relevancy for unless the voice is identified and is audible or intelligible the tape recorded conversation or voice is meaningless in so far the relevancy is concerned. The other conditions (b) (c) and (e) relate to the integrity of the recording. With the advent of the new technologies the above objective can be achieved by forensic examination. In specific reference to videotapes it can be done by resorting i.e. speaker identification by conducting spectrography analysis and other auditory examinations to determine the voice of the speaker and by examination of videotapes by using VISAR tool, Vectorscope and waveform monitor to determine that a videotape is genuine and not tempered with.