Under Section 91 of Cr.P.C., police is empowered to issue a notice either to attend and produce a document or thing, or to produce it (in which case personal appearance may not be necessary). This section is as under:
“91. Summons to produce document or other thing.— (1) Whenever any Court or any officer in charge of a police station considers that the production of any document or other thing is necessary or desirable for the purposes of any investigation, inquiry, trial or other proceeding under this Code by or before such Court or officer, such Court may issue a summons, or such officer a written order, to the person in whose possession or power such document or thing is believed to be, requiring him to attend and produce it, or to produce it, at the time and place stated in the summons or order.
(2) Any person required under this section merely to produce a document or other thing shall be deemed to have complied with the requisition if he causes such document or thing to be produced instead of attending personally to produce the same.
(3) Nothing in this section shall be deemed—
(a) to affect Sections 123 and 124 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872), or the Bankers’ Books Evidence Act, 1891 (13 of 1891), or
(b) to apply to a letter, postcard, telegram or other document or any parcel or thing in the custody of the postal or telegraph authority.”
You have not mentioned the necessary facts. It is not clear whether your father has been asked to produce documents belonging to the company in which he worked, though it appears to be so.
If your father does not have those documents in his possession, he can go and appear before the officer concerned, who issued the notice, and explain to him that he is no more working in the said company and left the job about one year back and that the documents are not in his possession but in the possession of the company. The officer concerned, if satisfied, may then issue notice to the concerned officer of the company.
Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.
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