HC rejects PIL seeking mandatory upload of all charge sheets on UP Police website
The high court relied on the Supreme Court’s judgment in the case of ‘Saurav Das vs Union of India 2023’, wherein it was observed that copies of charge sheets aren’t public documents and they can’t be put online.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in 2020 that sought a directive to the Uttar Pradesh Police to upload every charge sheet on its official website within 24 hours of concluding an investigation.
A division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Abdhesh Kumar Chaudhary passed the order on January 5 in response to the PIL filed by one Mohd Irfan Siddiqui, seeking a direction to the state authorities to upload each charge sheet in all the police stations across the state on the official website – uppolice.gov.in.
The high court relied on the Supreme Court’s judgment in the case of ‘Saurav Das vs Union of India 2023’, wherein it was observed that copies of charge sheets aren’t public documents and they can’t be put online.
In this verdict, the Supreme Court held that placing charge sheets in the public domain would be contrary to the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) scheme and could violate the rights of the accused, the victim, and the investigating agency. The petitioner requested that this be done as early as possible, and preferably within 24 hours of the conclusion of the investigation.
The petitioner also sought directives to the police and circle officers concerned to ensure that a certified copy of the charge sheet is supplied to the accused, their representative, pairokar or advocate within 24 hours of an application being made.
{{/usCountry}}The petitioner also sought directives to the police and circle officers concerned to ensure that a certified copy of the charge sheet is supplied to the accused, their representative, pairokar or advocate within 24 hours of an application being made.
{{/usCountry}}The state government filed a counter-affidavit opposing the plea and contended that the law doesn’t require uploading of a charge sheet prepared by investigating officers after a probe on the relevant website.
{{/usCountry}}The state government filed a counter-affidavit opposing the plea and contended that the law doesn’t require uploading of a charge sheet prepared by investigating officers after a probe on the relevant website.
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