The right of an accused to obtain copies of statements made to the police under Section 162 of the Criminal Procedure Code is limited to statements made during the investigation of the offence for which the accused is being tried.

MODI, J.

( 1 ) THIS is a revision by the accused Jhumarlal and raises an interesting point of procedure relating to the right of an accused to obtain copies of certain statements made to the police under Section 162, Cr. P. C.

( 2 ) THE accused petitioner is being prosecuted under Section 182. I. P. C. , in the court of the Second Class Magistrate, Pali. The allegation against him is that he had made a report of theft against certain persons in the police, and this report was investigated, and the police came to the conclusion that it was false and thereby he had rendered himself liable to be proceeded against under Section 182. I. P. C. Consequently, thp Sub-Inspector in charge of police thana, Pali, filed a complaint against the petitioner in the court of the First Class Magistrate. Pali, on the 17th October, 1955, under Section 182. I. P. C. This complaint was thereafter transferred to the court of the Second Class magistrate, pall. The accused was examined on the 1st December, 1955. and the case was posted for evidence for the 10th December, 1955. On the 1st December, 1956. the petitioner applied for being furnished with copies of the statements of the witness or witnesses who had been examined by the police during the course of investigation in connection with the theft case. This application was rejected by the Magistrate. Thereupon the accused went in revision to the Sessions Judge, pali, who also maintained the order of the trial court, The present revision has been filed against that order.

( 3 ) LEARNED counsel for the accused raised two contentions in this Court, The first was that the decision of the two courts below declining to give copies of the statements of witnesses who had been examined by the police in connection with the report of theft filed by him (and which according to him must have led to the filing of the present complaint against him in the court of the Magistrate) was quite wrong, and, secondly, that the complaint filed against him did not fulfil the ingredients of Section 182, I. P. C, at all, and should not, therefore, have been entertained by the Magistrate.

( 4 ) I shall take up the first contention first. The argument of learned counsel for the petitioner on this point was that it must have been the outcome of the investigation made by the police in the theft matter that the police eventually came to the conclusion that his report was false; and, therefore, the petitioner was naturally anxious to obtain copies of those statements to enable him to prepare his defence, and it was further argued that the petitioner was entitled to get such copies under the provisions of Section 162, Cr. P. C. It has to be remembered in this connection that at the time the application in question was made, Section 162 stood in its unmodified form as follows;

"statements to police not to be signed; use of such statements in evidence.-162. (1) No statement made by any person to a police officer in the course of an investigation under this Chapter, if reduced into writing, be signed by the person making it; nor shall any such statement or any record thereof, whether in police-diary or otherwise, or any part of such statement or record, be used for any purpose (save as hereinafter provided) at any inquiry or trial in respect of any offence under investigation at the time when such statement was made: provided that, when any witness is called for the prosecution in such inquiry or trial whose statement has been reduced into writing as aforesaid, the Court shall on the request of the accused, refer to such writing and direct that the accused be furnished with a copy thereof, in order that any part of such statement, if duly proved, may be used to contradict such witness in the manner provided by Section 145 of the indian Evidence Act, 1872. When any part of such statement is so used, any part thereof may also be used in the re-examination of such witness, but for the purpose only of explaining any matter ref