In Brief
A former Regional Manager of RIICO Ltd filed a First Information Report alleging that a letter bearing his forged signature had been issued to a company. The dispute centred on whether the Criminal Procedure Code Section 195(1)(b)(ii)—which restricts cognizance of certain document-related offences when the document is already in court—applied. The Supreme Court held that Section 195(1)(b)(ii) applies only to offences committed after a document is filed in court. Even though this bar did not apply, the Court found no prima facie evidence that the company had forged the letter; forensic evidence could not conclusively prove the forged signatures were theirs, and office records showed a Class IV employee dispatched the letter. The appeal was dismissed.
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