Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court has issued guidelines for accepting the Final Police Report Form (charge sheet or final report) by all courts under its jurisdiction in light of two notifications issued by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Assam, and under sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
The HC took into account two notifications issued by the Office of the Additional Director General of Police, CID, Assam, in May and July 2023, directing all Superintendents of Police not to send the original Case Diary along with the Final Police Report Form. Another letter from the CID also brought to the notice of the HC that few courts have raised objections to accepting the Final Report Form without original Case Diaries.
Moreover, Section 173 of CrPC and 193 BNSS, as well as the Assam Police Manual, only provide that the investigating officer is required to submit the police report along with the materials on record, documents, laboratory reports, expert opinions, and statements recorded, etc., before the competent court on completion of the investigation and do not provide for sending the original case diaries along with the Final Police Report Form.
After considering all aspects, the HC issued the following guidelines for acceptance of the Final Police Report Form:
1. Police reports, i.e., Final Form (charge sheets or final reports), shall be accepted by all courts without insisting on original case diaries.
2. While accepting the Final Police Report Form with all its enclosures, the concerned courts shall ensure that provisions of Section 173 CrPC/193(6) BNSS and 193(8) BNSS are strictly complied with by the investigating officer. Courts shall also ensure that there shall be one copy for the use of the court and another copy for the prosecutor, apart from the number of copies required to be furnished to the accused persons.
3. However, the above point no. 2 shall not restrict the power of courts under the provisions of CrPC or BNSS and the Assam Police Manual for calling the original case diary (CD) at any stage of investigation/inquiry/trial/appeal, and CD shall be returned after completion of the purpose of calling the original CD.
4. It is also provided that while submitting the Final Police Report Form, the investigating officer shall also send a digital copy of such police report.
5. To receive the digital copy, District and Sessions Judges/Special Judges shall use official email account and store them in a systematic manner in the database for future use.
6. District and Sessions Judges/Special Judges shall provide the email account details to the Commissioner of Police, Guwahati/Superintendent of Police of the concerned district for receipt of such digitised copy for use in the future.
7. While sending the original case record in connection with any appeal or revision, the concerned trial court shall also send a court copy of the Final Police Report Form along with all enclosures received from the police station or the digital copy as per the direction of the said court calling the record.
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