Section 94 BNSS Is Supplementary Power For Unearthing Truth During Investigation For Preventing Failure Of Justice: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court remarked that Section 94 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) is a supplementary power available for unearthing truth during investigation for preventing failure of justice.

The Court remarked thus in a Petition challenging the notice under Section 94 of BNSS issued by the Investigating Officer (IO), by which it was directed to the Registrar of Swami Vivekananda University to provide the records of all students who received government scholarships from the institution for last five academic years (2020 to 2025).

A Single Bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh observed, “… the ultimate object behind Section 94 of BNSS is to confer power in the hands of the Court or in case of pending investigation, inquiry, trial or other proceedings to produce document or other thing which the Court or the police authorities deems relevant and cogent for conducting of investigation, inquiry, trial or other proceedings and which are not already on record or are required for the purposes of investigation. Thus, it is a supplementary power available for unearthing truth in course of investigation/inquiry/trial or other proceedings for preventing failure of justice.”

Senior Advocate Sandipan Ganguly appeared for the Petitioners while Advocate Suman Sengupta appeared for the Respondents.

Facts of the Case

The Petitioner was established under the Swami Vivekananda University Act, 2019. A complaint was addressed to the Officer-in-Charge, Police Station by a person wherein it was alleged that Centre-in-Charge for Exams organized mass use of unfair means, organized leakage of question paper of the Exam during May, 2025 and also Semester Examinations of West Bengal State Council of Technical and Vocational Education and Skill Development at Regent Institute of Science & Technology at Bara Kanthalia, Telini Para, Barrackpore. The said complaint was treated as the First Information Report (FIR). The IO issued a notice under Section 94 of BNSS to the Petitioners seeking records of all students who received government scholarships. Being aggrieved by this, the Petitioners were before the High Court.

Reasoning

The High Court after hearing the contentions of the counsel, noted, “Having considered that the main emphasis of the petitioners were to justify that there was no requirement or desirability in calling for the records which were referred to in the notice under Section 94 of the BNSS, I am of the view that the materials which have been collected in course of the investigation, as is reflected from the case diary, prima facie satisfies the requirement in respect of the documents called for by the investigating officer of the case.”

The Court added that to assign further reason relating to the cause of such justification would be interfering with the investigation itself, which would be transgressing to a domain which is not called for while exercise powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

The Court said that the Petitioner has failed to make out any case for interference by the Court.

Accordingly, the High Court dismissed the Petition.

Cause Title- Swami Vivekananda University & Anr. v. The State of West Bengal & Ors. (Case Number: W.P.A. No. 17617 of 2025)

Appearance:

Petitioners: Senior Advocate Sandipan Ganguly, Advocates Srijib Chakraborty, Pinak Mitra, and Debdut Banerjee.

Respondents: Advocates Suman Sengupta and Amrita Panja Moulick.

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