Efforts should be made by police to use tech tools for fairness, efficacy: Delhi HC

Hindustan Times

14 hours ago

New Delhi, While technology enhances transparency of police investigation and ideally every effort should be made to use such aids, adopting the use of video or audio recording might not be feasible in some cases, the Delhi High Court has said while dismissing the bail plea of an accused in a narcotics case.
The court observed that in absence of independent witnesses and videography, there is an added duty upon the court to scrutinise the evidence more carefully.
In the present case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act Act, certain contraband was recovered from a vehicle in transit after a chase without any video recording.
The petitioner, who was allegedly found to be in possession of 10.860 kg of poppy straw, argued that there was a violation of provisions pertaining to entry, search, seizure and arrest under the NDPS Act. Subsequently, several more sacks of the contraband were allegedly recovered at his instance by the police.
His counsel argued that the contraband was recovered in a crowded place but no sincere effort was made to join the public persons or to videograph the search and seizure proceedings conducted at the spot.
In the judgement passed on June 5 dismissing the bail plea, Justice Ravinder Dudeja said that although there was admittedly no independent public witness of recovery or any photography/videography, it was at best a "key irregularity" and there was nothing on record at this stage to suggest that the petitioner was not guilty.
"The use of technology certainly enhances the efficacy and transparency of the police investigation and assures fairness, and therefore, ideally, every effort should be made by the investigating agency to use technological means in aid of investigation. However, there may be situations where audio/video recording may not be feasible like the present case," said the court.
"The absence of independent witnesses and the videography at best may be regarded as a key irregularity in a search and that would cast an added duty upon the court to scrutinise the evidence regarding the search more carefully," it added.
It noted that in the present case, there was information that contraband was being transported in a vehicle from Alwar, Rajasthan, to Azadpur in Delhi via Punjabi Bagh, and at the time when the petitioner and his co-accused were apprehended, they were shifting the contraband from the car to a motorcycle.
The court said the period of the petitioner's custody since August 2023 or that the trial had commenced were by themselves not persuasive grounds for granting relief to the petitioner under the NDPS Act.