The Court ruled that withholding documents relied upon by the prosecution could seriously prejudice an accused's defence and violate the right to a fair trial under Article 21.
The bench clarified that merely invoking the Official Secrets Act cannot deprive an accused of access to documents that form part of the chargesheet and are being used against them in court.
To protect sensitive information, the Court directed that typed copies of the classified documents be supplied subject to strict conditions prohibiting their publication or dissemination through any medium.
The Supreme Court has reaffirmed the primacy of an accused person's right to a fair trial, ruling that access to documents forming part of a chargesheet cannot be denied merely because they are classified or covered under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
A bench comprising Justices J.K. Maheshwari and A.S. Chandurkar held that documents relied upon by the prosecution and included in the chargesheet must be made available to the accused, as withholding them could severely impair their ability to mount an effective defence. The Court observed that the guarantees of a fair trial under Article 21 of the Constitution require transparency regarding the material being used against an accused person.
The ruling came in a case involving retired Major General V.K. Singh, a former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officer, who sought copies of certain classified documents that formed part of the chargesheet filed against him in a 2007 case under the Official Secrets Act. While the prosecution argued that the documents were highly confidential and linked to national security, the Court found that this alone could not justify denying access to material being relied upon in court proceedings.
At the same time, the Court sought to balance the competing interests of national security and the rights of the accused. It directed that typed copies of the relevant documents be provided to Singh within two months, subject to an undertaking that the material would not be disclosed through print, electronic, or social media platforms.
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