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(e) The prosecution is therefore not obliged, in terms of Section 207(v) CrPC read with Section 173(5)(a) thereof, to supply the mirror image of the HDs as demanded by the accused. In any event a mirror image of the hard disc which contains calls pertaining to other cases as well is not only not contemplated under Section 207(v) CrPC but would also prejudice the right to privacy of other persons not connected with the cases.
(f) The accused would have the right to cross-examine the witnesses of the APFSL regarding the discrepancies concerning the relevant calls including call duration and time and therefore would not be prejudiced if the hard disc is not produced at this stage.

8.1 In order to appreciate why the question whether, in the instant cases, four hard discs are documents and of which copies can be demanded by the accused it is necessary to recapitulate the statutory provisions that mandate supply to the accused by the prosecution of the copies of those documents forwarded to the court along with the charge sheet which it proposes to rely upon as well as of those documents already sent to the court during investigation. The relevant provisions are Section 173(5)(a) and Section 207 CrPC, which read thus:

8.3 This is in contrast to the position regarding documents. Section 173(5)(a) CrPC refers to documents 'on which the prosecution proposes to rely' other than 'those already sent to the Magistrate during the investigation'. These documents are to be forwarded to the Magistrate along with report. Therefore at the stage when the supply of documents has to be made in terms of Section 207(v) CrPC what the Magistrate has with him are those documents which have already been sent to the Magistrate during the course of investigation and those documents that are forwarded by the police officer along with the charge sheet. Under Section 207(v), the Magistrate has no discretion in the matter of not supplying such documents. The only limited discretion that the Magistrate has in terms of the second proviso to Section 207(v) CrPC is if the documents are so voluminous he can direct that the accused will be permitted only an inspection of the documents.

10.4 In Superintendent and Remembrancer of Legal Affairs, West Bengal v. Satyen Bhowmick AIR 1981 SCC 917 the Supreme Court was considering the scope of Section 14 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 and held that the said provision cannot take away the right of the accused to get copies of statement recorded of witnesses or documents obtained by the police during investigation. The question whether each and every document collected by the police during investigation should be furnished to the accused at the pre-charge stage or whether it was limited by Section 173(5)(a) read with Section 207(v) CrPC clearly did not arise for consideration there. Reference was then made to State of Uttar Pradesh v. Lakshmi Brahman (1983) 2 SCC 3872 where the Supreme Court observed that the language of Section 207 CrPC was mandatory and the furnishing of copies by the Magistrate to the accused was not an administrative but a judicial function. In any event, the said judgment nowhere states that all documents collected by the prosecution at the stage of investigation should be provided to the accused at the pre-charge stage and that a denial thereof would constitute a violation of the fundamental right to a fair trial. The decision of the Gujarat High Court in Pravin Kumar Lalchand v. State of Gujarat 1982 Cri. L.J. 763 turned on its own facts. There since the enlarged photographs had been examined by the expert for giving the opinion, it was held that the said document cannot be denied to the accused. In the instant case the APFSL has not been asked to certify the entire contents of the 4 HDs but as pointed out earlier have compared the conversations recorded on the CDs with their original recordings in the HDs. Therefore, this case is of no assistance to the petitioners.