Report No. 113

Chapter 4

Working Paper and Comments Received Thereon

4.1. Proposal put forth in the Working Paper.-

As already stated,1 the Commission circulated a Working Paper on the subject, for eliciting informed public opinion. In the Working Paper, a broad outline of a provision which could be inserted in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, as section 114B, was put forth in the following form:

"114B. (1) In a prosecution (of a police officer) for an offence constituted 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 (4) evidence of any magistrate who might have recorded the victim's statement or attempted to record it".

1. Para. 1.3, supra.