The main legal point established in the judgment is that the accused does not have the right to inspect police reports and charge sheet during the progress of the trial.

Arthur Collins, Kt., C.J.

1. In answering this reference to the Full Bench I intend to follow the exact words of the reference., The question is whether the accused had, from the moment of his accusation, a right .to inspect and obtain copies of the documents in question for the purpose of his defence. These documents are certain police reports including a charge sheet. The reference assumes that the documents are records of the acts of public officers submitted by them as required by law--see Sections 157, 168 and 173, Code of Criminal Procedure--and that they are public documents within the meaning of Section 74 of the Indian Evidence Act, and that any person interested in the subject matter of a public document has a right to inspect it and under Section 76, Evidence Act, has also the right to have a copy of such document supplied to him; but that is really the point the Full Bench has to decide. There appears no doubt that a person accused is a person interested in the documents referred to in Sections 157, 168 and 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, if the reports relate to the accusation against him; and if such reports are public documents he would be entitled to inspect and have copies of such documents. I would remark that the accused person would thus be in a position to know before any evidence is given against him all the information the police have collected relating to the offence and their reasons for suspecting the accused. The accused would, if he had the above information, have every opportunity of making a successful defence even if he was, guilty;--in fact, he has a copy of the brief for the prosecution.

2. The question to be decided is, are these reports, made under Section 157; the occurrence report and 168--the report made by a subordinate police officer to the station house officer, public documents, and further the charge sheet drawn up under Section 173 a public document ?

3. The definition of a public document is (so far as. it relays to the question before me) "a document forming the acts or record of the acts of a public officer". It must be conceded that a policeman is a public officer.

4. Section 157 enacts that if from information received or otherwise, an officer in charge of a police station has reason to suspect the commission of an offence which he is empowered to investigate, he shall forthwith send a report of the same to a Magistrate empowered to take cognizance of such offence upon a police report and shall proceed in person, or shall depute one of his subordinate officers to proceed to the spot and investigate the facts.

5. Now, can it be said that this report is a document forming the acts or records of the act of a public officer? I am of opinion that it is not. It is the reasons the officer in charge of the police station has for suspecting the commission of an offence.

6. Section 168 directs that a subordinate police officer who has made any investigation, shall report the result of such investigation, to the officer in charge of the police station. I am of opinion that reporting the result of an investigation cannot be said to be the act or record of an act of a public officer. Section. 173 directs that, after the investigation under this chapter shall be completed, the officer in charge of the police station shall forward to a Magistrate a report in a prescribed form setting forth the names of parties, the nature of the information and the names of the persons who appear to be acquainted with the circumstances of the case and shall also state whether the accused person is in custody or released on his bond with or without sureties. This information--usually called the charge-sheet stands in a somewhat different position from the reports under Sections 157 and 168, and it is possible to argue that the latter portion does relate to the act or record of the act of a public officer--viz., keeping the accused in custody or releasing him on bail, but as that information would not