Saurav Das vs Union Of India

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION

WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) No.1126 of 2022

Saurav Das ..Petitioner

Versus

Union of India & Ors. ..Respondents

JUDGMENT

M.R. SHAH, J.

1. By way of this petition under Article 32 of the

Constitution of India the petitioner has prayed for

appropriate directions/orders directing the respondents -

States to enable free public access to chargesheets and final

reports filed as per Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by Neetu Sachdeva Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as ‘Cr.P.C’) in Date: 2023.01.20 16:12:08 IST Reason:

furtherance of the rationale as established by this Court in

1 Youth Bar Association of India v. Union of India, (2016)

9 SCC 473 on their websites.

2. Shri Prashant Bhushan, learned counsel appearing on

behalf of the petitioner has heavily relied upon the decision

of this Court in the case of Youth Bar Association of India

(supra) by which this Court directed copies of FIRs to be

published within 24 hours of their registration on the police

websites or on the websites of the State Governments.

2.1 It is the case on behalf of the petitioner that while the

direction of this Hon’ble Court directing the police to publish

copies of FIRs on their websites has indeed induced

transparency in the working of the criminal justice system,

the logic of disclosure applies more strongly to chargesheets,

for while FIRs are based on unsubstantiated allegations,

chargesheets are filed after due investigation.

2 2.2 Shri Prashant Bhushan, learned counsel appearing on

behalf of the petitioner has taken us to the Scheme of the

Code of Criminal Procedure more particularly Sections 207,

173(4) and 173(5) of the Cr.P.C and relying upon the said

provisions it is vehemently submitted that as per the

aforesaid provisions when a duty is cast upon the

Investigating Agency to furnish the copy of the

challans/charge-sheets along with all other documents to

the accused, the same also should be in the public domain

to have the transparency in the working of the Criminal

Justice System.

2.3 Shri Prashant Bhushan, learned counsel appearing on

behalf of the petitioner has also vehemently submitted that

the chargesheet is a public document once filed in the

Court. Reliance is placed on Sections 74 and 76 of the

Indian Evidence Act, 1872. It is submitted that even under

Section 4(2) of the Right to Information Act, 2005

3 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘RTI Act’) a duty is cast upon

the public officer/public authority to provide as much

information suo moto to the public at regular intervals

through various means of communications and to provide as

much information as mentioned in Section 4(1)(b) of the RTI

Act.

Making the above submissions, it is prayed to grant the

relief as sought in the present petition.

3. We have heard Shri Prashant Bhushan, learned

counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner at length.

4. At the outset, it is required to be noted that by way of

present writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of

India, the petitioner by way of Public Interest Litigation has

prayed for an appropriate direction/order directing all the

States in the country to enable free public access to

4 chargesheets and final reports filed as per Section 173 of the

Cr.P.C. on their websites.

4.1 For the aforesaid heavy reliance is placed on the

decision of this Court in the case of Youth Bar Association

of India (supra). On going through the decision of this

Court in the case of Youth Bar Association of India

(supra), the reliance placed upon the same by the counsel

appearing on behalf of the petitioner for the relief sought in

the present petition is thoroughly misconceived and

misplaced. In the aforesaid decision this Court directed that

the copies of the FIRs should be published within 24 hours

of their registrations on the police websites or on the

websites of the State Government. From the entire

judgment it appears that this 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 the

5 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.

4.2 Even the relief which is sought in the present writ

petition directing that all the challans/chargesheets filed

under Section 173 Cr.P.C. shall be put on public

domain/websites of the State Governments shall be contrary

to the Scheme of the Criminal Procedure Code. As per

Section 207 Cr.P.C. a duty is cast upon the Investigating

Officer to supply to the accused the copy of the police report

and other documents including the First Information Report

recorded under Section 154 Cr.P.C. and the statements

recorded under sub-Section 3 of Section 161 Cr.P.C.

6 4.3 As per sub-Section 173(4) Cr.P.C. a duty is cast upon

the Investigating Agency to furnish or cause to be furnished

to the accused, free of cost, a copy of the report forwarded

under sub-section (1) under Section 173. Section 173(4)

reads as under:

“173(4). After forwarding a report under this section, the officer in charge of the police station shall, before the commencement of the inquiry or trial, furnish or cause to be furnished to the accused, free of cost, a copy of the report forwarded under sub-section (1) and of the first information report recorded under section 154 and of all 41 other documents or relevant extracts thereof, on which the prosecution proposes to rely, including the statements and confessions, if any, recorded under section 164 and the statements recorded under sub-section (3) of section 161 of all the persons whom the prosecution proposes to examine as its witnesses.”

4.4 As per Section 173(5) Cr.P.C. when any report is filed

in respect of the case to which Section 170 Cr.P.C. applies,

the police officer shall forward to the Magistrate along with

the report all documents or relevant extracts thereof on

which the prosecution proposes to rely other than those

already sent to the Magistrate during investigation.

7 4.5 Therefore on conjoint reading of Section 173 Cr.P.C.

and Section 207 Cr.P.C. the Investigating Agency is required

to furnish the copies of the report along with the relevant

documents to be relied upon by the prosecution to the

accused and to none others. Therefore, if the relief as

prayed in the present petition is allowed and 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.

5. Now so far as the reliance placed upon on Sections 74

& 76 of the Evidence Act is concerned, the reliance placed

8 upon the said provisions are also absolutely misconceived

and misplaced. Documents mentioned in Section 74 of the

Evidence Act only can be said to be public documents, the

certified copies of which are to be given by the concerned

police officer having the custody of such a public document.

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.

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6. Now so far as the reliance placed upon Section 4 of the

RTI Act is concerned, under Section 4(2) of the RTI Act a

duty is cast upon the public authority to take steps in

accordance with the requirements of clause (b) of sub-

Section 1 of Section 4 of the RTI Act to provide as much

information suo moto to the public at regular intervals

through various means of communications. 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.

Under the circumstances also the reliance placed upon

Section 4(1)(2) of the RTI Act is also misconceived and

misplaced.

7. In view of the above and for the reason stated above,

the petitioner is not entitled to the relief as prayed in the

present petition namely directing all the States to put on

their websites the copies of all the chargesheets/challans

filed under Section 173 of the Cr.P.C.

10 Present writ petition lacks merits and the same

deserves to be dismissed and is accordingly dismissed.

………………………………….J. [M.R. SHAH]

………………………………….J. [C.T. RAVIKUMAR] NEW DELHI;

JANUARY 20, 2023.

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