NGOs might misuse chargesheets if made accessible: Supreme Court reserves order in PIL to make public chargesheets of police, CBI, ED

The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its verdict in a public interest litigation (PIL) that called for free public access to chargesheets filed by the police, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). (Saurav Das v. Union of India and ors).A Bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar, however, expressed its reservations on the implications of the prayers made. "If chargesheets are given to those unrelated to the case, busybodies, NGOs might misuse it. Chargesheets cannot be given to everybody," Justice Shah remarked. Justice Ravikumar indicated that the issue of the ED's chargesheets being made public had already been dealt with in last year's PMLA judgment passed by a three-judge Bench of which he was a part..The top court was hearing a plea by investigative journalist and transparency activist Saurav Das, filed through Advocate Prashant Bhushan."Citizens have a legal and constitutional right to proactive disclosure of chargesheets because the right to know is a fundamental right emanating from the Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression enshrined under Article 19(1)(a)...to induce transparency, it is incumbent on the Respondents to make available chargesheets on their websites and enable public access to chargesheets so that the citizenry can stay informed, and the press can faithfully and accurately report on criminal trials," the plea stated.The petitioner also flagged the issue of fake news that can arise from selective or inaccurate leaks of chargesheets, leading to media trials. "Since the entire chargesheet is not available in the public domain, selectively leaked information can be used to form biased opinions by spreading propaganda-laden content, manufactured especially to mislead and confuse a largely social media audience, thereby leading to unsubstantiated claims by interested parties." In this regard, the petitioner relied on Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which deals with how final reports by investigative agencies are to be handled by a magistrate."With the filing of the charge-sheet, the investigation is closed and the defence that investigation might get impeded does not stand at all.".During today's hearing, Bhushan submitted that the Court is only to pass similar directions like was done in the case of Youth Bar Association, where first information reports (FIRs) were directed to be uploaded online within 24 hours.He argued that as per Section 74 of the Indian Evidence act, chargesheets were "public documents" that can be accessed, even through Right to Information (RTI) applications.Pertinently, Bhushan pointed out that chargesheets are prepared by public authorities after due investigation and there are no reasons why people should not be able to access that, and instead rely on RTIs.Further, those contesting polls are required to put out criminal antecedents, and Section 4 of the RTI Act casts an obligation on the government to put out information otherwise accessible through RTIs. "I am only requesting something more serious, which comes after due deliberation by public authorities. We are asking for proactive disclosure in a public website like for FIRs. RTI Act provides for even suo motu disclosure of information. Your lordships have said every power is coupled with a duty. Here it is duty of public authorities. Every member of public has right to be informed of who is accused, or had committed crimes. The National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy also says the same thing.".After the order was dictated, Bhushan added that ultimately all trials in criminal cases are in open court.Justice Shah then responded saying,"Yes, we will consider; we are not opposing you. We will pass a detailed order.".[Follow our coverage of today's hearing]