--Use of audio or video devices to facilitate the recording of statements under S.161 or S.162, Cr.P.C could not be said to have been prohibited by any interpretation of the said provisions when the finished product to be used in the Court to confront the witness was the statement reduced to writing and not its audio or video recording--

 PLD 2019 SC 196

-Ss. 161 & 162---Examination/statement of witnesses before police---Audio and video recording---Permissibility---Use of audio or video devices to facilitate the recording of statements under S.161 or S.162, Cr.P.C could not be said to have been prohibited by any interpretation of the said provisions when the finished product to be used in the Court to confront the witness was the statement reduced to writing and not its audio or video recording---In terms of Ss. 161 & 162, Cr.P.C (in their current form) audio or video recording of statements of witnesses could not be admitted into evidence for the proof of such statement till the law was amended, but its use to facilitate recording of such statement could not be discouraged on the basis of a pedantic interpretation of Ss.161 & 162 Cr.P.C.---Supreme Court observed that in the age of computer where almost everything was communicated and even business of every type was transacted online, emphasis on the form of doing a thing as it used to be done in the year 1898 would amount to putting at naught the dynamics of scientific and technological advancements which had not only liberated man from exhausting labour but also made things easier---Application was dismissed accordingly.