2026 (3) TMI 1028

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..... Kartik Sabharwal, Adv., Mr. Satyam, Adv. JUDGMENT PER NEENA BANSAL KRISHNA, J. 1. The aforesaid eight Petitions under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as "Cr.P.C."), filed by Petitioner, Smt. Ritu Butalia, challenging the common impugned Order dated 20.12.2017 of the Ld. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) (Central), Delhi, whereby the Application for production of Original Documents in the Complaint Cases filed by the Respondent No.2, Income Tax Department under Section 276C(1), 277 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and Section 191 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as "IPC"), has been dismissed and a cost of Rs. 5,000/- was also imposed. 2. Briefly stated....

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....cessary authentication or attestation by the Indian High Commission, in the respective countries. Consequently, on 26.09.2017, the Petitioner filed an Application before the Trial Court seeking the production of all original relied-upon documents and inspection thereof, to effectively cross-examine the witness. 7. The Respondent No. 2 did not file a written reply but opposed the Application. 8. The Ld. Trial Court dismissed the Application vide the impugned Order dated 20.12.2017, by observing that the relevancy and admissibility of a document are two separate factors. A document may be relevant but whether it is admissible is a question which is to be determined at an appropriate stage. It was also observed that the Application prima....

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....pore, under the "Exchange of Information" Article of the Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) and the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), respectively. These were routed through the Foreign Tax & Tax Research (FT&TR) Division of the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. The information is official and obtained through government-to-government channels, thereby establishing its authenticity. 14. The Respondent asserted that the Application filed by the Petitioner at the stage of cross-examination was merely a ploy to delay the trial proceedings. Submissions heard and record perused. 15. The precise grievance of the Petitioner is the denial of an opportunity to inspect the original foreign documents, which she claims....

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....records indicate that during the examination-in-chief of CW-1 on 02.05.2017, the originals were "Seen and Returned" (OSR). This implies the originals were produced at the time when they were exhibited. Apparently, no objection to the exhibiting of the Documents was raised by the petitioner, at that stage. If the originals were OSR, the copies on record are deemed to be true copies of those originals. If the originals lacked the seal, the copies would reflect the lack thereof. 21. However, the right of the accused to fair trial, includes the right to effective cross-examination. If the defense rests on challenging the admissibility of the documents based on statutory non-compliance with Section 78(6) IEA, the accused must be afforded an o....