Supreme Court of India (Kurian Joseph, J.; T.S. Thakur, CJI on the Bench), Criminal Appeal Nos. 9-10 of 2016, decided 06-01-2016: Appeals allowed and proceedings under Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, initiated suo motu by the High Court of Delhi against the appellant — Deputy Director, State Forensic Science Laboratory, Rajasthan, who gave the ballistic expert opinion in the Jessica Lal murder case (FIR No. 287 of 1999, PS Mehrauli) — quashed. Held: (i) under the 1973 Code it is not mandatory for the court to record a finding that an offence has been committed; only the finding of the preliminary inquiry, forming the court's opinion on an offence 'which appears to have been committed', is required (unlike s. 479-A of the 1898 Code, which made such a finding mandatory), and the High Court had in fact formed such an opinion; (ii) the appellant was consistent throughout — in his report dated 04.02.2000 and in deposition — that a definite opinion could be given only if the suspected firearm were available for examination; it was the trial court which insisted on an opinion without the firearm, and the non-specific, indefinite opinion then given did not attract Section 193 IPC; (iii) merely because an expert tenders a non-conclusive opinion while furnishing its basis, it cannot be said he committed perjury, and mere rejection of expert evidence does not by itself warrant proceedings under s. 340 CrPC; (iv) expert evidence requires closer scrutiny and a different approach in such proceedings; the expert's duty is to furnish his opinion with reasons and materials, the court forming its own conclusion, an expert opining on what he has tested unlike a witness of fact who presents facts as such. Har Gobind v. State of Haryana and Sqn. Ldr. (R) Umeed Ali Khan (Supreme Court of Pakistan) held inapplicable; Pritish v. State of Maharashtra, Sidhartha Vashisht @ Manu Sharma v. State (NCT of Delhi), State (Delhi) v. Pali Ram, Ramesh Chandra Aggrawala v. Regency Hospitals and National Justice Compania Naviera SA (The 'Ikarian Reefer') relied on/referred to.
