Fair trial disclosure in complaint cases requires early access to Section 161 statements and seized documents used at trial.

A complaint case preceded by police investigation requires complete disclosure to the accused at the start of trial, even though the Code does not expressly extend Section 207 to cases instituted otherwise than on a police report. The Court treated natural justice and the constitutional requirement of a just, fair and reasonable procedure as controlling, so the accused was entitled to copies of Section 161 statements and documents seized during investigation that the prosecution proposed to rely on. Voluminous material could be inspected instead of copied, and copies were not necessarily to be supplied free of cost.

---

---

Issues: Whether, in a complaint case preceded by police investigation, the accused is entitled at the commencement of trial to copies of statements recorded under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and of documents seized during investigation and proposed to be used at trial.

Analysis: The proceedings were instituted on a complaint because cognizance of the offence under the Imports and Exports Control Act could be taken only on complaint, but the matter had in fact been investigated by the police under the Code. The Code did not in terms confer the benefit of Section 207 of the Code on a case instituted otherwise than on a police report, yet the Court held that the absence of an express statutory right did not exclude the operation of natural justice or the constitutional requirement that procedure affecting liberty must be just, fair and reasonable. A complaint case preceded by police investigation could not be treated like an ordinary private complaint, because the prosecution would otherwise be able to disclose material piecemeal and deny the accused an integrated picture of the case at the outset. The earlier authorities were distinguished as cases decided on statutory construction alone, without deciding the broader fairness principle.

Conclusion: The accused were entitled to complete disclosure at the threshold of trial, including copies of Section 161 statements and investigation documents sought to be used in evidence, though voluminous documents could be inspected instead of copied and the cost of copies was not necessarily free.

---