Chargesheet Not a Public Document: Supreme Court
On 20th January, 2023, the Supreme Court dismissed a PIL seeking a direction to all states to enable free public access to chargesheets and final reports filed by investigating agencies on their websites.
What Supreme Court Said?
- The top court made the observations while hearing a plea by journalist Saurav Das seeking free public access to chargesheets and final reports filed as per Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
- Dismissing the plea, the Court held that a chargesheet cannot be made publicly available as it’s not a ‘public document’ under Sections 74 and 76 of the Evidence Act.
- Putting ....