The Hindu : Delayed chargesheet copies prolong trial

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 31, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Delayed chargesheet copies prolong trial

By A. Subramani

CHENNAI March 30. Tens of hundreds of persons are unable to see any progress in their cases just because the over-burdened offices in magistrate courts in the State have failed to deliver copies of chargesheets to the accused.

Though it is the police who submit the handwritten final report (chargesheets) under Section 123(2) of the CrPC, the courts are supposed to deliver a chargesheet copy to each of the accused in a given case irrespective of the number of the accused persons in the case and the number of pages of the chargesheet. All accused are entitled to a copy free of cost under the Section 207 of the CrPC.

Without the chargesheet being filed, its copy made available to all persons named in the case, the trial cannot commence. Every day, before taking up the matters, magistrate courts can be seen fixing fresh dates for those cases where each of the accused had not been supplied with the chargesheet copies.

Though an inevitable step for trial, the reasons cited for such delays range from the shortage of hands to the indifferent attitude of the court office staff. Those accused who are keen to see the end of the trial have to first get the police to file the final report and then do the `needful' to ensure that the chargesheet copies were readied by court staff and served on the other accused.

Another problem haunting advocates practising in magistrate courts is the inordinate delay in getting copies of FIR prior to filing bail or anticipatory bail applications. Since it takes a minimum of 15 days to obtain an FIR copy, the court staff would normally allow advocates to read the records and gather case particulars at the office itself. But such an informal arrangement flowing solely from the rapport between the court staff and advocates suffered a blow in the Saidapet court complex recently when a person, claiming to be an advocate, allegedly destroyed case documents after getting the case bundle for spot perusal.

(Incidentally, the entire Saidapet court complex, which houses six metropolitan magistrate courts having jurisdiction over nearly half of Chennai, does not have even a common photocopier machine, leading to further delay in preparing certified Xerox copies of chargesheets).

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

Stories in this Section

Regulatory authority mooted

`Involve NGOs in TB treatment'

Software programmer `assaulted'

Delayed chargesheet copies prolong trial

ECR toll, a blow to residents: Vaiko

Land for private hospital: municipality to seek Govt. nod

Police to introduce `auto cards' system