The main legal point established in the judgment is that the accused is entitled to apply for and obtain a certified copy of the remand report, as it is considered a public document and relevant to the accused's liberty and the judicial process.

1. This reference, on a report by the District Magistrate. Trivandrum, under S.438 of the Code of (Criminal Procedure, has been placed before us, as the question of law involved in the matter, in the opinion of Khalid, J., before whom it came up for hearing in the first instance, deserves to be considered by a Division Bench. The question is whether an accused in a criminal case is entitled to apply for and obtain certified copy of the "remand report" filed by the police, and, if so, whether there is any limitation as to the stage at which such copy could be granted by the court.

2. S.76 of the Indian Evidence Act clothes any person who has a right to inspect a public document in the custody of a public officer, with a right to obtain on demand a copy thereof on payment of the legal fee therefor. The requirements in terms of this section for the grant of a certified copy are: (1) the document in respect of which the copy is applied for should be a public document; (2) it must be in the custody of a public officer; (3) the applicant should have a right to inspect it; and (4) the applicant should pay the prescribed legal fee for the certified copy.

3. We proceed on the assumption that the accused in this case was prepared to pay the legal fee and, therefore, the question regarding the payment of legal fee need not be gone into in this reference. The investigating police officer, who submitted the "remand report", and the Sub Divisional Magistrate who has the custody of the report, in this case, are public officers as defined in S.2(17)(d) of the Code of Civil Procedure, which substantially corresponds to the definition of "public Servant,' as defined in S.21 of the Indian Penal Code. This aspect of the matter also does not, therefore, require any detailed consideration.

4. This leads us to the question whether the "remand report" is a public document. Neither S.167 nor S.344 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which contains the provisions for remand land extension of remand of the accused respectively, contemplates expressly any report by the police, which in practice is called the "remand report". S.167(1) states:

"Whenever any person is arrested and detained in custody, and it appears that the investigation cannot be completed within the period of twenty-four hours fixed by S.61, and there are grounds for believing that the accusation or information is well founded, the officer in charge of the police-station or the police officer making the investigation if he is not below the rank of Sub-Inspector shall forthwith transmit to the nearest Magistrate a copy of the entries in the diary hereinafter prescribed relating to the case, and shall at the same time forward the accused to such Magistrate."

5. The "diary hereinafter prescribed relating to the case" referred to in sub-S. (1) of S.167 refers to the diary of proceedings in the investigation under S.172(1) which is known as the 'case diary'. Sub-s. (3) of S.167 requires that a Magistrate authorising detention in the custody of the police shall record his reasons for so doing.

6. In terms of S.167 Crl. P.C., it is imperative that the police officer should send along with the accused a copy of the entries in the case diary which he is bound to keep under S.172. This obviously is for the purpose of afford-ring the Magistrate information upon which he can decide whether or not he should authorise detention of the accused person in custody. Neither Sri. K. A. Abdulsalam, learned counsel for the revision petitioner nor the learned Government Pleader has brought to our notice any provision in the Code requi-ing the police officer to submit a "remand report" as such, apart from furnishing the copy of the entries in the case diary. Therefore, the petitioner's application for the copy of the "remand report", if it relates to remand under S.167 Crl. P.C., is virtually one for the grant of a certified copy of the entries in the case diary furnished to the court by the police officer