In a recent judgment in the case of Saurav Das vs. Union of India & Ors. [Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1126 of 2022], the Hon’ble Supreme Court on 20.01.2023, rejected a Writ Petition wherein the main relief was that all states in the country, be directed to put on their website the copies of all chargesheets / final reports filed under Section 173 of the Cr.P.C., to enable free public access of the same. The Petitioners placed reliance on a judgement of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Youth Bar Association of India vs. Union of India (2016) 9 SCC 473, wherein the Apex Court had directed copies of FIRs to be published within 24 hours of their registration on the police websites / websites of State Governments. It was submitted by Mr. Prashant Bhushan on behalf of the Petitioners, that, the direction of putting up FIRs on State / Police websites have induced transparency in the working of the criminal justice system, and that, the logic of disclosures applies more strongly to chargesheets. It was submitted that while FIRs are based on unsubstantiated allegations, chargesheets are documents filed after due investigation.
However, the Bench comprising of Hon’ble Mr. Justice M.R. Shah and Hon’ble Mr. Justice C.T. Ravikumar were of the opinion that:
“4.1. …. 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 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. …. 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 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.”
Mr. Prashant Bhushan, further submitted that, on a bare perusal of the relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, specifically Sections 207, 173(4), 173(5), a duty is cast upon the Investigating Agency to furnish a copy of the chargesheet and other relevant documents to the accused, accordingly, these documents must be in the public domain. He emphasised the importance of transparency in the realm of criminal justice system. He further submitted that as per Section 74 and 76 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, ‘chargesheet’ once filed before the Court, falls under the definition of ‘public document’. It was further submitted on behalf of the Petitioners that as per Sections 4(1)(b) and 4(2) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, the public officials are duty bound to provide information to the public suo moto, and that chargesheet falls under this category.
The Hon’ble Supreme Court dealt with all these arguments at length, however, negated all the arguments put forth and opined that:
“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 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.
6. ….. 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.”
Accordingly refuting all the submissions made by the Petitioner, the Writ Petition was dismissed at the Notice stage itself, holding that chargesheet / challans filed under Section 173 of the Cr.P.C. cannot be equated with FIRs, and the same ought not to be uploaded on the websites, for free access by the public at large, as it will be against the scheme of the Code of Criminal Procedure and will also be against the interests of the victims as well as the accused.
