2013(1) Law Herald (P&H) 118
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
Before
The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Vijender Singh Malik
Crl. Revision No.887 of 2012(O&M)
Amar Nath
v.
State of Punjab & Ors.
{Decided on 12/12/2012}
Evidence Act, 1872, S.73--Comparison of document--Section 73 does not lay down that an original document can be compared with a Photostat copy of a writing--While making a Photostat copy of a document, the machine may introduce some aberrations--The science of identification of handwriting is otherwise not a perfect science and when the report is based on comparison made between an original and a Photostat copy, no reliance whatsoever can be placed. (Para 10)
Mr. Vijender Singh Malik, J.: - Crl. Misc. No.18053 of 2012
The delay of 15 days in filing the revision petition is condoned for the reasons given in the application.
The miscellaneous application is accordingly allowed.
Crl. Revision No.887 of 2012
1. Challenge by way of this revision petition is to the judgment dated 09.11.2011 passed by learned Sessions Judge, Sri Muktsar Sahib, vide which the judgment of acquittal of respondents no.2 and 3 dated 15.10.2010 passed by learned Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Gidderbaha has been upheld, dismissing the appeal preferred by the State of Punjab.
2. Bhim Sain and Manoj Kumar , respondents no.2 and 3 were sent to stand trial for an offence punishable under sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 482, 506 and 120-B IPC and section 63 Copyrights Act, 1957 by Police Station Gidderbaha in a case registered by way of FIR No. 105 dated 20.09.2002 on the following allegations of facts.
3. Amar Nath, the complainant is a manufacturer of six photos naswar, a snuff which is quite popular in the country. On account of popularity of his product, many persons were jealous of him. Bhim Sain and Manoj Kumar were selling snuff in duplicate packing of the patent of the complainant causing loss to him. With regard to it, the complainant got a case registered in the State of Gujarat for an offence punishable under sections 482 and 420 IPC. Bhim Sain and Manoj Kumar were acquitted in the said case. On 16.07.2002 an anonymous letter was received by the complainant where the name of the complainant was written in English and the letter itself was in Hindi. The threat contained in the letter was of elimination of grandson of the complainant. The complainant got the writing of the letter compared from Anil Kumar Gupta, a document expert and found that the letter was written by Manoj Kumar. On 16.08.2002 when the complainant alongwith one Ashok Kumar was on morning walk, Manoj Kumar and his father Bhim Sain met them and asked the complainant in a taunting manner as to if he has received the threatening letter. They also told him that they would execute their plan as per the contents of the letter to eliminate his grandson, who was a student of Malwa Public School Gidderbaha.
4. Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Gidderbaha tried Bhim Sain and Manoj Kumar and vide judgment dated 15.10.2010 found the prosecution to have failed to prove its case and consequently acquitted them.
5. The appeal preferred by the State of Punjab against the judgment of acquittal also failed and has been dismissed vide judgment dated 09.11.2011.
6. I have heard Mr.Aman Dhir, learned counsel for the petitioner and have gone through the record carefully.
7. Learned counsel for the petitioner drew my attention to various parts of the judgment of the court of learned Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Gidderbaha. According to him, the evidence of comparison of the writing coming in the statements of Anil Kumar Gupta and Navdeep Gupta has been wrongly rejected. He has submitted that the only reason for rejecting that evidence by the courts below is that the comparison has been made of the disputed writing with photostat copy of the specimen writing. According to him, section 73 of the Evidence Act does not lay down any requirement where original document can be compared with only original specimen.
8. Learned counsel for the petitioner has further submitted that Talwinder Singh, Inspector, Central Excise, appeared as PW-8 and has proved the statement made by Manoj Kumar in his office. According to him, he has proved photostat copy of the statement of Manoj Kumar and that was an authentic document and report of the document expert after comparison of the disputed writing with the photostat of the statement made in the office of Central Excise, could not be discarded. He has further submitted that the other evidence has also been rejected for no valid reason. He has further submitted that learned trial court has tried to make out a poi
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