Judicial magistrates can direct accused to give voice samples to probe agencies: SC

The Supreme Court on Friday held that judicial magistrates are empowered to direct accused in criminal cases to give voice samples to agencies during investigation. In a major judgment, a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) does not have provisions that allow judicial magistrates to direct the accused to cooperate with probe agencies by providing voice samples in pending investigations.

The bench also comprising justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose, said it was exercising its extraordinary constitutional powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to confer the power on judicial magistrates to direct accused in criminal cases to give their voice samples for proper investigation. Till now, the accused were not legally bound to give their voice samples to probe agencies.