ORDER

Indira Banerjee, C.J. and P.N. Prakash, J.—This specially constituted Division Bench is required to decide the following issue:

“Are the police entitled to be furnished with copies of the following documents immediately?

i. statement of witness recorded under Section 164 Cr.P.C.;

ii. Confession statement of the accused recorded under Section 164 Cr.P.C.;

iii. Dying declaration recorded by the Magistrate; and

iv. Test Identification Parade report of the Magistrate.

2. Before venturing to answer the aforesaid issue, it may be apposite to briefly recount the circumstances which led to the constitution of this Bench, for which, it may be necessary to succinctly state the facts obtaining in the case at hand.

2.1 Accused “X”, who is deaf and dumb, is the Correspondent-cum-Secretary of a school for the deaf and dumb, where, four girl children, viz., “A”, “B”, “C” and “D”, who are also deaf and dumb, were resident-students. It was alleged by “A” that the accused “X” sexually abused her over a period of time and started blackmailing her for his carnal pleasure. She also conceived through “X” and was subjected to undergo abortion in a hospital at his instance. When “X” started sexu