Legal Provisions of Section 294 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C.), India.
No formal proof of certain documents:
The provisions of this section are new and they provide for cases where no formal proof is necessary. The object is to eliminate avoidable delay and expenditure in the conduct of criminal proceedings.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Where the prosecution or the accused does not dispute the genuineness of a document filed by the opposite party under Section 294 (1) it implies admission of the fact that the entire document is true and genuine in its contents and it has been signed by the person by whom it purports to be signed, such a document may be taken as a substantive evidence to prove a fact in issue. Thus a postmortem report filed by the prosecution under Section 294 (1) whose genuineness is not disputed by the accused may be admitted as substantive evidence under Section 294 (3)
In the case of Ram Dev Yadav v. State of Bihar, the trial Court accepted the injury reports prepared by the doctor under Section 294. The doctor was not examined. The Patna High Court rejected the plea to treat these injury reports as substantive evidence under Section 294 and held that these reports could not substitute direct evidence of the doctor. They could, however, be used to corroborate or contradict the doctor.
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In Shankaria v. State of Rajasthan, the person who had taken finger prints of the accused was not examined as a witness at the trial instead, his affidavit was accepted. The Apex Court held that his evidence on affidavit was admissible because it was of a formal character.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Where documents which were produced in the Court, about whom no formal proof was required and they were admitted by the opposite party as genuine, it was held that they could be admitted by the Court as a substantive piece of evidence.