defence lawyer for his refusal to' show his register

the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Superintendent
and Remembrancer of Legal Affairs, West Bengal vs. Satyen Bhowmick & Ors., AIR 1981 SCC 917.
That was a case in which the accused was charged under the Official Secrets Act. The Magistrate
directed the lawyer to produce his notebook. The Magistrate permitted the defence lawyer to take
copies of the statement of the witness in order to be in a position to cross-examine the witness.
Subsequently, the Magistrate directed the lawyer to produce his notebook to examine that only a
summary of the evidence has been taken by the lawyer not in extenso in violation of Section 14. The
lawyer claimed privilege under Section 126 of the Act. The Supreme Court held as follows:-
'26. xxx xxx
4. That there was absolutely no impropriety on the part of the Magistrate in not
taking action against the defence lawyer for his refusal to' show his register because
the lawyer had rightly claimed privilege under Section 126 of the Evidence Act as the
Union Of India vs R.K. Jain on 3 February, 2017
Indian Kanoon - http://indiankanoon.org/doc/113712159/ 9
register contained instructions given by the client which being privileged could not be
disclosed to the Court. On a parity of reasoning we find no impropriety on the
conduct of the lawyer in refusing to show the statement of witnesses recorded by the
Court in extenso in order to prepare himself for an effective cross-examination of the
witnesses. Hence the strictures passed by the High Court on the Magistrate as also on
the lawyer of the defence were, in our opinion, totally unwarranted. xxx