E-Paper
Allahabad high court refuses to quash Rampur court order for collection of Azam Khan’s voice sample in 2007 hate speech case
The Allahabad high court while disposing of the petition filed by Azam Khan, however, on July 25 directed that the voice sample shall be collected as per provision of Indian Evidence Act
The Allahabad high court has refused to quash a Rampur MP/MLA court order dated October 29, 2022 for former MP Azam Khan to give his voice sample in a 2007 hate speech case. The high court order clears the path for collection of Khan’s voice sample.
Justice Rajeev Misra, while disposing of the petition filed by Azam Khan, however, on July 25 directed that the voice sample shall be collected as per provision of Indian Evidence Act, after obtaining a certificate under Section 65B of Indian Evidence Act from Sanjay (proprietor of Pooja Cassette Centre), who had recorded the entire event which occurred on August 7, 2007.
The essence of the allegations made in the FIR is to that on August 7, 2007, the accused-applicant, who was a Member of Legislative Assembly and a leader of the Samajwadi Party, made a speech, which was derogatory inasmuch as the words used were offensive in nature as they caused hurt to the sentiments of a particular community, and the act violated the model code of conduct issued by the Election Commission.
Syed Imran Ibrahim, the counsel for the applicant Azam Khan, contended that it was now well settled that a video/audio cassette, which is an electronic piece of evidence, cannot be relied upon in the absence of the certificate which is mandatorily required under Section 65B of the Evidence Act.
“As the disputed cassette relating to the alleged hate speech is not accompanied by the requisite certificate, therefore the same cannot be relied upon in evidence. Consequently, no directions could have been issued by court below to the applicant to give his voice sample for securing the F.S.L. report regarding the said cassette,” the applicant’s counsel argued.
The state government’s counsel opposed the petition and submitted “order impugned dated 29.10.2022 is perfectly just and legal. The court below has not committed any illegality in passing the order dated 29.10.2022.”
On the defect in procedure of collection of electronic evidence (cassette), the state government counsel further submitted, “Procedure is an aid to justice and, therefore, the rigours of procedure cannot be construed in such a manner so as to prevent the court from discovering the truth.”
“When the order impugned is examined in the light of the above, it cannot be said that any prejudice has been caused to the applicant on account of the impugned order, inasmuch as nothing has been decided against the applicant, but only a direction has been issued to applicant to give his voice sample,” he added
After hearing the parties concerned, the court observed, “Having dealt with the submissions urged by the learned counsel for applicant and the objection raised by the learned A.G.A. and the material on record, this court does not find any good ground to set aside the orders impugned.”
