High Court Dismisses Petition Challenging Appellate Court's Orders Allowing Document Production Under Section 391 CrPC in Cheque Dishonor Appeal -- No Prejudice Found in Permitting Additional Evidence for Defense

Nature of Litigation: Criminal writ petition challenging appellate court orders in a criminal appeal against conviction

Remedy Sought

Petitioner sought quashing of orders dated 20.12.2023 and 19.3.2024 allowing accused to produce documents

Filing Reason

Petitioner alleged that appellate court improperly allowed document production under Section 391 CrPC without specific prayer for additional evidence, causing prejudice

Previous Decisions

Trial court convicted respondent for cheque dishonor -- Appellate court allowed document production through impugned orders -- High Court granted stay on proceedings on 24.6.2024

Issues

Whether the appellate court properly exercised discretion under Section 391 CrPC in allowing document production Whether the impugned orders caused prejudice to the complainant requiring interference

Submissions/Arguments

Petitioner argued that accused did not specifically pray for additional evidence under Section 391 CrPC -- Appellate court's observation about treating documents as additional evidence was uncalled for -- Accused had opportunity to produce documents during trial but failed without justification Respondent argued that documents were necessary to substantiate defense that transaction involved unenforceable hand-loan -- Appellate court properly applied mind and recorded reasons -- No prejudice caused as relevancy would be decided during final appeal

Ratio Decidendi

Appellate courts have discretionary power under Section 391 CrPC to allow additional evidence if necessary for proper adjudication -- The court must apply its mind and record reasons -- Interference is warranted only if discretion is exercised arbitrarily or causes prejudice -- Production of documents does not automatically prejudice the opposite party if relevancy is reserved for final decision

Judgment Excerpts

The learned Sessions Judge has applied its mind to the application below Exh.38 filed by the accused and relying upon the judgment of the Supreme Court...has held that the documents which are sought to be relied upon by the accused are necessary for deciding the appeal The objection of the complainant that the appellant did not examine the concerned persons relating to those documents before the learned trial court does not survive, keeping reserved the merits of the relevancy of such documents to be decided at the time of final decision of the appeal

Procedural History

Trial court convicted respondent for cheque dishonor -- Respondent filed Criminal Appeal No. 39 of 2018 -- Appellate court allowed document production through orders dated 20.12.2023 and 19.3.2024 -- Petitioner filed criminal writ petition challenging these orders -- High Court granted stay on 24.6.2024 -- Petition heard and dismissed on 25.2.2026