The sole purpose of Section 512 Cr.P.C is to preserve the record of the evidence in absence of accused, (a) who has absconded, (b) there is no............

 The sole purpose of Section 512 Cr.P.C is to preserve the record of the evidence in absence of accused, (a) who has absconded, (b) there is no immediate prospect of being apprehended, and then (c) such deposition can be given in evidence only if the deponent is dead or his evidence cannot be procured without an amount of delay, expanse or inconvenience. The basic purpose of Section 512 Cr.P.C. is the preservation of record so that presumption of authenticity remains attached to that record to the extent if that record is used as an evidence in the trial of any co-accused subsequently, than it can be relied upon subject to the fulfilment of other procedural conditions attached to it, which are mentioned in Section 512 Cr.P.C. Therefore, when a statement is recorded in a judicial trial then all those documents, which are duly exhibited in a statement of a witness, become the integral part of the statement and there remains no need of those documents to be re-exhibited separately in the subsequent trial of a co-accused in the same case, wherein the statement is transposed.

The statements of a witness duly recorded can be transposed under Section 512 Cr.P.C to the trial of accused subsequently arrested and same falls within the category of substantial evidence, however the Trial Court has to evaluate the transposed statements of the witnesses cautiously while considering all the other facts of the case, other statements of the witnesses along with the cross examinations and circumstantial evidence available on record.

article provides three ingredients, which are necessary for the admissibility of a transposed statement in a subsequent trial of a co-accused, these ingredients are explained in the proviso of the above-mentioned Article 47 of the Qanun-e-Shahadat Order, 1984 that;

(1) If the proceedings are between the same parties or their representatives-in-interest;

(2) If the adverse party in the first proceedings has the opportunity to cross examine;

(3) If the questions in issue were substantially the same in the first as in the second proceedings.

THE FEDERAL SHARIAT COURT
Criminal Appeal No.04-I of 2022
Abdul Moeen versus The State etc.
Announced in Open Court on 07.12.2023, at Islamabad