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Chargesheets Not 'Public Documents', Can't Direct Investigating Agencies To Upload Them On Websites : Supreme Court
LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK
20 Jan 2023 11:48 AM IST
Just because FIRs are uploaded, chargesheets cannot be directed to be uploaded in websites.
The Supreme Court on Friday held that police and investigating agencies like CBI, ED etc., cannot be directed to upload the chargesheets filed in cases in a public platform for easy access by the general public.A bench comprising Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar held so while dismissing a PIL filed by RTI activist and investigative journalist Saurav Das. The bench termed as "misplaced"...
The Supreme Court on Friday held that police and investigating agencies like CBI, ED etc., cannot be directed to upload the chargesheets filed in cases in a public platform for easy access by the general public.
A bench comprising Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar held so while dismissing a PIL filed by RTI activist and investigative journalist Saurav Das. The bench termed as "misplaced" the reliance made by Advocate Prashant Bhushan on the Supreme Court's judgment in the Youth Bar Association Case in which directions were issued to the police to upload the FIRs in website within 24 hours except in sensitive cases like rape and sexual offences.
The Court held that the direction in the Youth Bar Association case cannot be extended to chargesheets. The FIRs were directed to be publicly uploaded so that innocent accused are not harassed and they are able to get the relief from the competent court and are not taken by surprise. This direction cannot be stretched to the public at large so far as the charge sheets are concerned.
Direction to upload chargesheets will be contrary to scheme of CrPC
The Court further held that the direction sought to put all chargesheets in the public domain is contrary to the scheme of the CrPC.
"It may as such, violate the rights of the accused as well as the victim and/or even the investigation agency. Putting the FIR on the website cannot be equated with putting the charge sheets on public", the bench noted in the order.
Reliance on Section 74 and 76 of Evidence Act misconceived.
The petitioner had argued that a charge-sheet, not unlike an FIR, was a ‘public document’, since the filing of a charge-sheet was an act of a public official in discharge of their official duties and as such, came under the definitional ambit of ‘public document’ given in Section 74 of the Evidence Act, 1872. Therefore, a charge-sheet filed by a police department, or an investigative agency, Bhushan claimed, would be subject to the discipline of Section 76 of the Act that mandated public disclosure of any public document by a public officer having custody of such document to a person having a ‘right to inspect’.
The Court rejected these arguments as misconceived.
"Documents mentioned in S.74 of Evidence Act only can be said to be public documents, certified copies of which are to be given by the concerned public authority having the custody of such a public document. Copy of charge sheets along with necessary public documents cannot be said to be public documents u/s 74 of the Evidence Act".
The Court also held that copies of the chargesheet and the relevant documents along with the charge-sheet do not fall within Section 4(1)(b) of the RTI Act - Para 6
Bench expresses reservations about misuse
The bench had reserved orders on January 9 at admission stage itself, without issuing notice.
During the admission hearing, the bench had expressed certain reservations about the idea. The bench commented that if chargesheets are made available to public, they are likely to be misused.
Justice CT Ravikumar pointed out that the Supreme Court's judgment in the Vijay Madanlal Choudhary case (which upheld the PMLA provisions) had held that ECIR was not akin to FIR and hence the accused was not entitled to a copy of the same. Therefore, the judge expressed a doubt whether a direction can be issued to the ED to publicly upload the chargesheets.
"Chargesheets cannot be given to everybody", Justice Shah added.
The counsel also relied on National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy approved by the Union Cabinet in 2012 that sought to facilitate access to public data and information in both human-readable and machine-readable forms. “There is no reason why the information contained in charge-sheets, where the investigation has been concluded, the evidence has been examined extensively, and a finding has been reached, should not be published on the website of the prosecuting agency or the state government. This is the kind of information about which every member of the public is entitled to be informed,” Bhushan contended.
Bhushan drew support from other statutory enactments such as the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Right to Information Act, 2005 as well. The main thrust of the petitioner’s argument was that not only the Evidence Act, but also the Right to Information Act and the judgments of the High Courts and Central Information Commissions vis-à-vis charge-sheets envisaged that charge-sheets were public documents and thus, available for public disclosure. Bhushan argued, “A charge-sheet filed by a police authority is definitely an act or a record of an act by a public official. Any public document should be given to a person who has the right to demand that. It is our argument that such a document would be disclosable under the Right to Information Act.” He also insisted, “It is the duty of every public authority to put out the information suo motu.”
In this connection, it was also pointed out that Section 6(2) of the Right to Information Act provided that no reason or justification was required to seek information. The counsel said, “Any person has the right to seek a copy of the charge-sheet. Under the Right to Information Act, it cannot be asked whether the person seeking the information is connected. Under this Act, the ambit of disclosable information is very wide.”
Bhushan also stated that after a chargesheet is filed, trial is to take place in an "open court", where public can have access. Therefore, he argued that the reliefs claimed by the petitioner were in line with the concept of 'open court'.
Case Title : Saurav Das vs Union of India |W.P.(C) No. 1126/2022
Citation : 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 52
For Petitioner(s) Mr. Prashant Bhushan, AOR Mrs. Cheryl D’Souza, Adv. Ms. Ria Yadav, Adv.
Summary - Supreme Court refuses to direct that chargesheets filed by investigating agencies should be uploaded on a public website for public access- Court says that the directions in Youth Bar Association of India vs Union of India (2016) 9 SCC 473 regarding uploading of FIR cannot be extended to chargesheets- Court directed the copies of the FIRs to be published within 24 hours on the police websites or on the websites of the State Government, looking to the interest of the accused and so that innocent accused are not harassed and they are able to get the relief from the competent court and they are not taken by surprise. Therefore, the directions issued by this Court are in favour of the accused, which cannot be stretch to the public at large so far as the chargesheets are concerned- Para 4.1
Code of Criminal Procedure 1973- Sections 173, 207 - Direction to publicly upload chargesheets against the scheme of CrPC-If all the chargesheets and relevant documents produced along with the chargesheets are put on the public domain or on the websites of the State Governments it will be contrary to the Scheme of the Criminal Procedure Code and it may as such violate the rights of the accused as well as the victim and/or even the investigating agency. Putting the FIR on the website cannot be equated with putting the chargesheets along with the relevant documents on the public domain and on the websites of the State Governments - Para 4.5
Indian Evidence Act 1872- Section 74, 76-Copy of the chargesheet along with the necessary documents cannot be said to be public documents within the definition of Public Documents as per Section 74 of the Evidence Act.-As per Section 75 of the Evidence Act all other documents other than the documents mentioned in Section 74 of the Evidence Act are all private documents. Therefore, the chargesheet/documents along with the chargesheet cannot be said to be public documents under Section 74 of the Evidence Act, reliance placed upon Sections 74 & 76 of the Evidence Act is absolutely misplaced- Para 5
Right to Information Act 2005 - Copies of the chargesheet and the relevant documents along with the charge-sheet do not fall within Section 4(1)(b) of the RTI Act - Para 6
