Report No. 185

65. Insertion of new section 114B.-

After section 114A of the principal Act, the following section shall be inserted namely:-

"114B. Presumption as to bodily injury while in police custody.- (1) In a prosecution of a police officer for an offence committed by an act alleged to have caused bodily injury to a person, if there is evidence that the injury was caused during a period when that person was in the custody of the police, the Court may presume that the injury was caused by the police officer having custody of that person during that period.

(2) The Court, in deciding whether or not it should draw a presumption under sub-section (1), shall have regard to all the relevant circumstances including, in particular,

(a) the period of custody;

(b) any statement made by the victim as to how the injuries were received, being a statement admissible in evidence;

(c) the evidence of any medical practitioner who might have examined the victim; and

(d) evidence of any magistrate who might have recorded or attempted to record the victim's statement ."

(3) For the purpose of this section, the expression 'police officer' includes officers of the para-military forces and other officers of the revenue, who conduct investigation in connection with economic offences."