Prayagraj-
Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal passed this order on Tuesday while hearing a dowry related bail application when the investigation officer, who was present before the court, admitted he had not prepared an audio-video recording of the first informant’s statement under section 180 of BNSS. The high court noted that section 180(3) BNSS, read with Rule 20(1) of the BNSS Rules, 2024, permits an investigating officer to record a witness’s statement through audio-video electronic communication. The IO tendered an unconditional apology after the court confronted him with the DGP’s circular dated Jul 21, 2025 and another circular dated Aug 4, 2026, concerning the audio-video recording of statements. 24/2025 makes audio-video recording of the statement of a rape victim compulsory, while recording of other statements under Section 180 BNSS was left optional. Against this backdrop, the court directed the DGP to consider making audio-video recording of all statements recorded under Section 180 BNSS mandatory.
In several cases, IOs do not prepare such recordings “just to save themselves from the allegation that statements of the witnesses under section 180 BNSS were written by them by copying the FIR”, according to the court. The court observed that this option “has been widely misused by several investigating officers”. “Therefore, the court directs UP DGP to consider making it mandatory to prepare audio-video of statements recorded under Section 180 BNSS, so as to make the investigation more transparent and fair and same would also be helpful to the Court while deciding the bail application and other judicial proceedings”. The court further directed the DGP to apprise all IOs of the guidelines so that “real culprit may be brought to justice and innocent person may not be subject to harassment due to faulty investigation”.
Prayagraj : Allahabad High Court directed the DGP to make audio-video recording of witness statements mandatory for investigation officer (IOs) in the state, observing that such a step would make criminal investigations more transparent and fair. The high court noted that it had come across a number of cases in which IOs did not prepare audio-video recordings, despite the option being provided in the DGP circulars. The court further noted that the DGP’s Circular No.
The court passed these directive while hearing a bail application filed by Chandrakant in a dowry related case of Agra district.