Section 109

Courts often need to examine documents or physical objects (like contracts, letters, weapons, or other evidence) presented during a hearing. Sometimes a court may suspect the item is forged, tampered with, or crucial for future proceedings, or fears that returning it could allow it to be destroyed or misused. This power allows the court to retain such items to preserve evidence, ensure justice, and prevent tampering. It has existed in Indian procedural law since the colonial-era Criminal Procedure Code and continues under the new Sanhita in the same form.

Under the equivalent provision in the earlier Code of Criminal Procedure (Section 104 CrPC), courts have held that impounding is a discretionary power meant to be used judicially — not arbitrarily. Courts have clarified that impounding should be based on some reasonable cause, such as suspicion of forgery, need for further investigation, or relevance to pending or future cases, rather than mere convenience.

• Myth: The court must return all documents or objects immediately after use in a hearing.
  Fact: The court has discretion to keep ('impound') such items if it believes doing so serves justice, such as when evidence needs protection or further examination.
• Myth: Impounding means the document is treated as fake or invalid.
  Fact: Impounding only means the court is holding onto the item for safekeeping or examination — it does not by itself decide the document's authenticity or legal validity.