Transparency

Hello,

It actually depends on the facts and the circumstances pertaining to the case and the nature of documents involved, its not cent percent right to contend that the documents under the ambit of official secrets act are utterly inadmissible. There have been few instances wherein the Court stated otherwise. The more recent instance is in accordance to the judgement in Yashwant Sinha & ors. V.   CBI and Ors.

The petitioners here had released certain classified documents, during the hearing which were protected under the ambit of Official Secrets Act.

The Court here stated that documents classified under the Official Secrets Acts, if leaked can be admissible in Court.

The case was pertaining to three documents that provided evidence in the political controversy surrounding the Rafale arms deal: a 7.8 billion euro weapons deal to purchase 36 Rafale fighter planes from France. 

There was a controversy concerning the Indian Prime Minister’s decision during a 2015 visit to Paris to purchase the planes, manufactured by Dassault aviation. 

Questions arose with respect to the Indian Prime Minister’s approval of the purchase at such a high cost.

The CBI on March 6, 2019 informed the Supreme Court that documents relating to the Rafale were stolen from the Defence Ministry. 

The Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has brought up the objection that a review on the basis stolen documents was inadmissible.

The three Judge Bench dismissed the objection asserting that there was no violation of the Official Secrets Act 1923, or any other law which prevented placing documents marked as secret before a Court of Law. The court here also stated that Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 which is pertaining to unpublished records, had no applicability here.

‘The Hindu’ newspaper had already published the documents, which indicated that the documents were already in public domain. Hence the court stated that It would be “an exercise in utter futility for the Court to refrain from reading and considering the said document.”

The CBI had also criticised The Hindu newspaper based on Official Secrets Act for publishing articles which were related to stolen classified information.

The court refereeing to Section 8(2) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, stated that if the disclosure is in public interest then it outweighed secrecy.

The judgment is a key to a lot of doors, that will encourage and promote transparency over official secrecy.