Allahabad HC orders trial court to give legible document copy toMP Randeep Surjewala

The Allahabad High Court in the case Randeep Singh Surjewala vs. State of U.P. and Another observed and has directed the Trial Court in Varanasi to provide copies of all the legible documents including the charge sheet as per Section 207 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to him with the period of seven days, therefore, the court provide an interim relief to Congress MP Randeep Singh Surjewala in the 23-year-old damage to public property case.
The bench comprising of Justice Vikram D. Chauhan in the case observed and has directed the trial court to adjourn the case for seven days and provide legible copies to the petitioner. Earlier, the court scheduled the hearing to take place on June 09, 2023.
The court in its order stated while hearing a petition filed by Congress MP under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, wherein he seek direction to the Trial Court in Varanasi in order to provide him with a legible copy of the chargesheet including the documents relied upon in compliance with the provisions of Section 207 the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 so that he may be able to move a discharge application in the case.
Therefore, the application moved by him before the Court concerned to this effect was rejected.
It has been submitted by the counsel appearing before the High Court that though a copy of the Chargesheet was provided to him as per Supreme Court’s direction of April 17, 2023, thus, the legible copies of other documents relied upon by the prosecution were not being supplied to him.
Further, the court observed that the accused person is entitled to legible copies of the documents as per the provisions of Section 207 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The said court also directed the trial court to provide a copy of all the legible documents as per Section 207 CrPC within seven days to him.
The counsel appearing for the Surjewala submitted before the court that on the receipt of the legible copies, thus, he would file the discharge application within the next seven days and the same may be decided in accordance with the direction of the Supreme Court dated April 17, 2023 and the order of High Court dated March 20, 2023. Further, the court in the case observed and has stated the petitioner shall be at liberty to file a discharge application within the next seven days. Thereafter, the court shall proceed in the matter as per the aforesaid orders dated 17.4.2023 and 20.3.2023, since the matter being old, the court below shall take into consideration the length of the litigation ad shall proceed with the case in accordance with law in a time-bound manner.
Accordingly, the court disposed of the plea.
The counsel, Senior Counsel SG Hasnain assisted by Advocate Akhilesh Singh, Advocate Shivam Yadav, Advocate Sarita Gupta, Advocate Mohd. Ali appeared for the petitioner.
The counsel, Additional Advocate General Neeraj Tripathi, AGA-Ist JK Upadhyay represented the respondent.