Cops now have to inform defendants about excluded documents

Kochi: The new amendment to the Criminal Rules of Practice, requiring the police to inform the accused of any omission of documents it earlier collected, on the inference that they are no more helpful in the case, has come into force in the state.

The development is crucial with regard to trials in criminal cases. There are possibilities the defendants could use such information excluded by the cops from the case purview as their trump card.

The fact that the accused can legally seek a copy of the unrevealed documents and use them during the trial will become a headache for the prosecution agencies.

Under the direction of the Supreme Court, the Kerala High Court has amended the rules in this regard, published the same, and supplied a copy to all the Criminal courts.

It was common practice so far that the accused moved the court to have access to such information, collected by the police during the probe but excluded later.

While submitting the final report, investigation teams often omit witness statements, medical certificates, forensic examination reports, brain mapping, polygraph, and narco-analysis test results which they infer as no more helpful to the case.

There were complaints on certain occasions that the witness statements recorded by judges in their handwriting couldn’t be read. As per the amendment, the witness statements can now be recorded by writing, typing, or using electronic devices.