Please note that statement of a witness is recorded by police under Section 161/162 Cr.P.C. independently of the provisions of Section 172 which relates to case diary. A recent amendment (made in 2009) to Section 172 now requires that all statements under Section 161 are necessarily required to be inserted in case diary under Section 172. But, this does not mean that statements are not recorded separately under Section 161/162. They continue to be recorded under those sections. There is an additional requirement of inserting Section 161 statement in the case diary.
Please also note that case diary contains many other things in addition to the statements under Section 161. Case diary is declared as a privileged document in Section 172.
Further, copies of statements of witnesses that are given under Section 173 or Section 208 are the statements under Section 161 of Cr.P.C.
Merely because 161 statements are also inserted in case diary, it does not mean that copy of case should also be given since case diary contains many other things and the parliament, in its own wisdom, has laid down in Section 172 that it is a privileged document, the copy of which cannot be given to the accused.
Thus, there is no contradiction. It is just a policy adopted by law made by parliament.
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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