Bombay High Court takes suo motu cognizance of police 'copy-pasting' witness statements

The Bombay High Court at Aurangabad recently took suo motu cognizance of the increasing trend of police officers ‘copy-pasting’ witness statements during criminal investigations [Amol Samadhan Nikam and Ors v State of Maharashtra]. .A bench of Justice Vibha Kankanwadi and Justice Sanjay Deshmukh , warned that such a practice is dangerous and may unnecessarily give an advantage to the accused persons.The Court made the observation after examining a police charge sheet in a case involving allegations that the accused had abetted the suicide of a minor. The Court observed that several witness statements recorded during the investigation were “literally made copy-paste,” with entire paragraphs starting and ending with the exact same words. “The culture of copy-paste statements is dangerous and may, in certain cases unnecessarily, give advantage to the accused persons. In such circumstances, the seriousness of the genuine case may get vanished,” the bench said. Two witnesses cannot give statement in identical fashion, the Court noted, adding that often, the only differences between such copy-paste statements were based on the witness' relationship with the deceased or the complainant. .The Court also expressed concern about whether witnesses were even being called at all by the police. “We may also wonder, as to whether really those witnesses are called by the police for statement under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure or not, but their statements would appear in the charge-sheet," it said. The Court noted that such copy-paste statements are often seen in Section 498A, IPC (marital cruelty) cases. Now that this trend has been noticed in suicide abetment cases as well, it was high time to take judicial notice of the matter, the Court added. "When now we are coming across with such copy-paste statements in serious offence like Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code, it is then high time to take cognizance of the issue suo moto and to consider, as to what are those short comings or difficulties for the investigating officer/officers when they record such copy-paste statements," it said. .The Court proceeded to appoint Advocate Mukul Kulkarni as an Amicus Curiae to assist it by collecting data and suggesting measures to be taken by the State government to avoid such instances of copy-paste and to improve the overall quality of police investigations.The Court directed him to submit suggestions by June 20 and listed the matter for further hearing on June 27..The observations were made in a case where five members of a family from Jalgaon district had sought the quashing of criminal proceedings against them on allegations that they abetted the suicide of a 17-year-old girl. The girl's demise was initially treated as an accidental death. However, the police later registered a case for suicide abetment. After the deceased girl's birth certificate indicated that she was a minor, the police added a more serious charge of abetting the suicide of a child. The accused withdrew their plea to quash the case during the hearing, but the Court chose to address the broader issue of investigative lapses.In remarks aimed directly at the handling of the case by the police, the bench said, “When even in such serious matters if this copy-paste method is adopted, then it is not a good indication for the criminal justice system.” The Court also highlighted that this is not an isolated issue, noting similar patterns in other cases. It, therefore, called for clear guidelines from the State on how witness statements should be recorded."We are taking cognizance and want the State to come out with specific guidelines to the investigating officers and also in respect of, how to record the statements," it said..Advocate HP Randhir appeared for the petitioner-family. Additional Public Prosecutor N R Dayama appeared for the State of Maharashtra..[Read Order]