Rights of the Accused under PMLA for Obtaining Copies of the Records / Documents

This article deals with the Judgement of the Supreme Court in Sarla Gupta & Onr. vs. Directorate of Enforcement and the right of an accused to obtain copies of the Records / Documents collected by the Investigative Agencies under the PMLA.

INTRODUCTION

The saying that “Information is power” is age-old. Investigating agencies, while investigating a certain offence, tend to collect a large amount of data and information in the quest for justice. An investigation, as well as the resulting prosecution (if any), is supposed to be fair and unbiased. An officer administering certain provisions of an act also conducts inquiries from time to time. This also leads to the collection and compilation of a large amount of data. This data is relevant not only because it could be used to establish that a certain accused is involved in the offence of money laundering but also to give rise to reasonable doubt as to his complicity. The burden of proof to convict an accused in a criminal trial is “beyond reasonable doubt”. If the prosecution cannot prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, the accused has to be acquitted. Just as the information conducted during an inquiry or an investigation forms the basis of the prosecution case, the same can also be pressed into service for defence. For a criminal trial to be fair to the accused, it is essent