Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

13 CMR, J.

it before the Police Officer, he would be faced with a prosecution under Section 175, Indian Penal Code, and in this prosecution he could not contend that he was not legally bound to produce it because the order to produce is valid order if Section 94 applies to an accused person. This becomes clearer if the language of Section 175 is compared with the language employed in Section 485, Cr. P.C. Under the latter section a reasonable excuse for refusing to produce is a good defence. If he takes the document and objects to its production, there is no machinery provided for the police officer to hold a preliminary enquiry. The Police Officer could well say that on the terms of the section he was not bound to listen to the accused or his counsel. Even if he were minded to listen, would he take evidence and hear arguments to determine whether the production of the document is prohibited by Art. 20(3). At any rate, his decision would be final under the Code for no appeal or revision would lie against his order. Thus it seems to us that if we construe Section 94 to include an accused person, this construction is likely to lead to grave hardship for the accused and make investigation unfair to him.