Chennai: A Chennai police request to furnish soft copies of its 5,000-page chargesheet in pen drives to the 27 suspects in the K Armstrong murder case was rejected by a magistrate court on Tuesday.
The suspects refused to receive the chargesheet on Oct 29 saying the Tamil Nadu prison manual does not allow pen drives into jail premises, and there is no provision to access the pen drive content while in jail. The prosecution then moved the V Metropolitan Magistrate Court saying that the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, allowed furnishing of the chargesheet in digital form.
Rejecting the plea, Magistrate Dharma Prabhu, said: "The accused reported that they have not been provided with any facilities in the jail for downloading the soft copy of the charge sheet. Considering the same, the request of the investigating officer to permit the prosecution to furnish only soft copies of the final report to the accused is rejected."
The court then directed the investigating officer to file the hard copies of the final report to all the accused and adjourned the hearing to Nov 14.
On Oct 29, 26 of the 30 arrested persons declined to accept pen drives containing the chargesheet against them. When Metropolitan Magistrate-V (in-charge) Dharma Prabhu sought to furnish copies, as mandated by the BNSS Act, they refused to accept the pen drives.
The lawyers told the judge that their clients needed to review the chargesheet framed against them by the police. Noting that pen drives are prohibited and could not be used on the prison campus, as per the prison manual, they insisted that police, through the court, serve each suspect the hard copies of the chargesheet.
On their part, the investigation officers said they followed the provisions of the BNSS Act, which allows them to present pen drives to the arrested accused. Earlier, the magistrate directed police to produce all the 28 arrested suspects, excluding Thiruvengadam, who was killed in a police encounter, to serve copies of the chargesheet. Police said the prime suspect, Nagendran, who is already serving a life term in Vellore Central Prison, could not appear in court due to poor health.
Chennai: A Chennai police request to furnish soft copies of its 5,000-page chargesheet in pen drives to the 27 suspects in the K Armstrong murder case was rejected by a magistrate court on Tuesday.
The suspects refused to receive the chargesheet on Oct 29 saying the Tamil Nadu prison manual does not allow pen drives into jail premises, and there is no provision to access the pen drive content while in jail. The prosecution then moved the V Metropolitan Magistrate Court saying that the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, allowed furnishing of the chargesheet in digital form.
Rejecting the plea, Magistrate Dharma Prabhu, said: "The accused reported that they have not been provided with any facilities in the jail for downloading the soft copy of the charge sheet. Considering the same, the request of the investigating officer to permit the prosecution to furnish only soft copies of the final report to the accused is rejected."
The court then directed the investigating officer to file the hard copies of the final report to all the accused and adjourned the hearing to Nov 14.
On Oct 29, 26 of the 30 arrested persons declined to accept pen drives containing the chargesheet against them. When Metropolitan Magistrate-V (in-charge) Dharma Prabhu sought to furnish copies, as mandated by the BNSS Act, they refused to accept the pen drives.
The lawyers told the judge that their clients needed to review the chargesheet framed against them by the police. Noting that pen drives are prohibited and could not be used on the prison campus, as per the prison manual, they insisted that police, through the court, serve each suspect the hard copies of the chargesheet.
On their part, the investigation officers said they followed the provisions of the BNSS Act, which allows them to present pen drives to the arrested accused. Earlier, the magistrate directed police to produce all the 28 arrested suspects, excluding Thiruvengadam, who was killed in a police encounter, to serve copies of the chargesheet. Police said the prime suspect, Nagendran, who is already serving a life term in Vellore Central Prison, could not appear in court due to poor health.