Probe leaks: Delhi HC says serious issue, pulls up police

Jamia Millia Islamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha, who is accused in the larger conspiracy of hatching the riots in February last year, had moved the high court last year, alleging misconduct by police officials in leaking his alleged disclosure statement in the main charge sheet, recorded by the probe agency during the investigation, to the media. He is currently out on bail.

Hearing a plea by Jamia Millia Islamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha seeking action against the police officials for allegedly leaking his disclosure statement to the media, the Delhi high court on Wednesday remarked that leak of documents and probe details was a “serious issue” and that the investigating agency must ensure that it is not done selectively.

The court asked the police to file written submissions and posted the matter for September 8. (File photo)

“It is a case where there is an order of this court that press briefing will not be done, so to circumvent that what you do is… you don’t do a press briefing but somehow… I am not imputing to any particular officer… but somehow in the form of leakage everything comes out... that is not permissible,” said the court of justice Mukta Gupta, adding that an investigation report is a valuable property.

“Why has this happened? There has to be a definite answer; secondly, it should not happen in future. Of course, you can take remedial action, but advisories don’t have any effect. Every time some cover-up is made,” it added.

Last week, the police had informed the court that it had failed to identify the officers/office from where “details of investigation” were “shared with the media”, adding that journalists have refused to divulge their source.

He said that police was in the process of issuing a circular to preempt and prevent a repeat of such incidents.

The court, however, said that the advisories don’t work and sought to know how the statements came in the media much earlier.

Lekhi pointed out that since it was a UAPA case, which involves several administrative processes, the file goes to different places where several copies must have been made.

The court asked the police to file written submissions and posted the matter for September 8.

Tanha, who is accused in the larger conspiracy of hatching the riots in February last year, had moved the high court last year, alleging misconduct by police officials in leaking his alleged disclosure statement in the main charge sheet, recorded by the probe agency during the investigation, to the media. He is currently out on bail.

Tanha, who was arrested in May 2020, was recently released from jail after the high court granted him bail in the riots case on a larger conspiracy.

The police had said that Tanha, a resident of Abul Fazal Enclave in Shaheen Bagh, was a member of the Students Islamic Organization and was part of the Jamia Coordination Committee which spearheaded protests against the new citizenship law.