HC had directed police to share a witness’s statement with CM Kejriwal, his deputy Sisodia and 11 AAP MLAs in the case
The Supreme Court on Thursday declined a Delhi Police appeal against a High Court order, which directed it to share a witness’s statement with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and 11 other AAP MLAs in a case relating to the alleged assault of then Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash at a February 2018 meeting.
A Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah cut short the police’s line of argument that the statement cannot be shared with the accused.
“You, as an investigating agency, cannot pick and choose. An investigating agency has to abide by the duty to be fair. If the statement [of the former adviser] has been recorded, why can’t you give a copy,” Justice Chandrachud asked Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi, appearing for the police.
Justice Chandrachud said the job of an investigating agency was “not to convict people but to allow criminal justice system to run its fair course”.
V.K. Jain statement
Mr. Lekhi said the statement of V.K. Jain, who claimed to have attended the 2018 meeting, was part of the case diary and need not be shared.
“The statement was only reflected in the case diary,” Justice Shah said, stressing that Mr. Jain’s written statement has an existence independent of the case diary.
Justice Chandrachud said the police were merely raising “technical” grounds and should rely on common sense to give the accused a copy of the statement in order to fulfil the objective of a fair trial. The High Court decision had upheld an accused right to fair trial. “For you, this may be a political hot potato, but it is nothing for us legally… This is not worth it,” he orally observed.
Mr. Kejriwal, in his plea before the High Court, accused the prosecution of withholding the statement of Mr. Jain because it did not suit the prosecution case.
Stern message to police
The October last High Court order had come with a stern message to the police that it was their duty “to do free and fair investigation by bringing to the notice of the court all the evidences collected during the investigation without picking and choosing the one which does not support them”.
Mr. Jain, in the 2018 statement, stated that the meeting between the AAP leaders and Mr. Prakash was on the issue of ‘Door Step Delivery of Ration’, ‘Advertisement Funds Release’ and slow processing of files.
During the meeting, Mr. Jain stated that he went to the washroom and upon returning saw Mr. Prakash leaving.