Diary of proceeding is the diary of a Police Officer who uses it during the investigation. But why does he use it? Is the police diary evidence against the accused?
There are many questions, whose answer is mentioned under section 172 of the code of criminal procedure which talks about the diary of proceedings in investigation.
Section 172(1) of Code of Criminal Procedure states that every police officer shall make a diary during his investigation to record his day by day investigation proceedings. He shall enter the information such as –
- When the information reached him
- When he began the investigation and closed it (time).
- Which place or places, he visited during investigation.
Section 172 (1A) states that he shall also enter the statement of examination of witnesses recorded during the course of investigation in his case diary under section 161 of Code of criminal procedure.
Section 172 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure answers whether the case diary is evidence or not. This sub-clause states that the Criminal Court during an inquiry or trial may use Police Diaries of a case as an aid in an inquiry or trial but not as evidence in the case.
Section 172 (3) of Code of Criminal Procedure states that the accused or his agent can’t call for a Police Diary. They aren’t entitled to see it even if the Criminal Court referred to it. But the court uses the Police Diary for the purpose of contradicting the Police Officer making the Diary or if the Police officer uses such a diary to refresh his memory then section 145 and section 161 of Indian Evidence Act may apply and the accused or his agent may see the case diary.
Case Study
Bhagwant Singh v. Commissioner of Police (1983) SC
In this case, the Court observed that it is the duty of the Investigating Officer to maintain the diary carefully.
State of Kerala v. Babu (1999) SC
In this case, the court held that the diary maintained by the Police Officer is a document under 92 and the magistrate of the district is authorized to call for and inspect the same.
