Criminal Revision Application No. 57 Of 2011
The High Court of Bombay At Goa
BENCH: Hon’ble F. M. Reis J.
DATE OF JUDGEMENT: 28-02-2012
BRANCH OF FORENSIC SCIENCE: Voice Analysis (Forensic Physics)
RELEVANT SECTIONS/ACTS:
Indian Evidence Act (IPC), 1872
- Section 8-Motive, preparation, and previous or subsequent conduct.
- Section 7 -Facts which are the occasion, cause, or effect, immediately or otherwise, of relevant facts, or facts in issue, or which constitute the state of things under which they happened, or which afforded an opportunity for their occurrence or transaction, are relevant.
BACK STORY
This appeal directed against the judgement of the High Court in dismissing the appeal of the appellant and affirming the conviction of the appellant under sec 7 and 8 Indian evidence act, as well as life imprisonment imposed by the trial court
Briefly the facts of the case, respondent/CBI had registered RC5 (A)/2010 against the petitioner for demanding a bribe of Rs. 1, 00,000/- from Ms. Bharati Roy of M/s. Vidya Industrial Services for the release of the attachment of the shop and firm and the appellant (Accused) caught red-handed while accepting an amount of Rs.25,000/-from the complainant through her advocate in the course of the trap laid out by the police. The petitioner, the complainant, and the witnesses called to the CBI office for recording their voice specimen on 3/03/2011 when they gave her voice specimen, unlike the petitioner who refused to do so. Therefore the petition was filed by the petitioner (accused) not to give the voice sample as the CFSL and police may modify his voice to prove him guilty before the court. It is further their case that it was vital for the voice spectrographic test by the CFSL, New Delhi on the recorded conversation that his voice specimen is essential for such test and crucial for the investigation so the session court rejects the appeal of the petitioner and order him to give his voice sample for further investigation
VOICE IDENTIFICATION REPORT
The specimen voice sample was taken and sent to CFSL laboratory for analysis and it is matched with questioned recorded cassette sample of accused and it is stated by the report in court regarding the accuracy of the spectrographic analysis that the spectrographic method of voice identification is a process that interweaves the visual analysis of the sound spectrograms with the critical aural examination of the sounds viewed. Proper presentation and explanation of the research pertaining to spectrographic voice identification analysis will allow the Court to understand better the accuracy and reliability of the spectrographic voice identification method.
JUDGMENT
Indubitably, with the advancement of Science and Technology, the identity of a person with the aid of fingerprints, palm impression, thumb impression, footmarks, blood sample, D.N.A. test, the specimen of handwritings-signature or exposing a part of the body or the like, can be established and in view of the article 20(3) of the Indian constitution, it is said by the court that Just as handwriting and signature are associated with an individual or his personal trait, even the voice of a person is his personal trait. So the court thereby dismissed the appeal of the petitioner (Accused).