If the genuineness of any document filed by a party is not disputed by the opposite party in a criminal trial it can be read as substantive evidence under Section 294 (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC), says the Supreme Court (SC) in Shyam Narayan Ram v State of UP [2024 INSC 800].
If the genuineness of the document, like post-mortem report, is not disputed by the opposite party, the said post-mortem report can be read as substantive evidence to prove the correctness of its contents without the doctor concerned being examined, says the judgement in its para 20.
The SC adds that on a plain reading of section 294 CrPC and its interpretation by the SC in the earlier judgments, it does not find any error in admitting the genuineness of the prosecution documents exempting them from formal proof, particularly when the defence repeatedly continued to admit them, by the Trial Court in the above case.
References
- Shyam Narayan Ram v State of UP [2024 INSC 800].
