State of Maharashtra V. Praful B Desai (DR.), 2003 4 SCC
State of Maharashtra V. Praful B Desai (DR.), 2003 4 SCC
(2) all documents including electronic records produced for the inspection of the
Court; such documents are called documentary evidence.
The Supreme Court’s
Judgement
The Trial Court had allowed video conferencing, when an appeal was filed in the High
Court, it was held that as per sec 273 of CrPC, evidence must be recorded in the presence
of the accused and thus video conferencing could not be allowed. The matter then came
before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court stated that The High Court had based its decision on the meaning of
the term "presence" in various dictionaries and held that the term "presence" in Section
273 means actual physical presence in Court and that the SC was unable to agree with
this.
It was then stated that sec 273 of the CrPC does not mandate physical presence and that
video conferencing can be permitted as evidence under Section 3 of the Indian Evidence
Act.