The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in 2020 that sought a direction requiring the Uttar Pradesh Police to upload every charge sheet on its official website within 24 hours of concluding an investigation. The bench hearing the petition relied on a Supreme Court judgment which held that copies of charge sheets are not public documents and therefore their placement in the public domain would be inconsistent with the statutory scheme of criminal procedure. The Supreme Court in that earlier ruling observed that making charge sheets publicly accessible could contravene the Code of Criminal Procedure and potentially infringe upon the rights of the accused, the victim and investigating agencies.
The PIL was filed by an individual advocating that upon completion of every investigation, the relevant police station across the state should publish the charge sheet on the official Uttar Pradesh Police website promptly, and ideally within 24 hours. In addition to seeking online publication, the petitioner also prayed for directions to ensure that a certified copy of the charge sheet be provided to the accused, their representative, or advocate within 24 hours of an application being made.
The State government opposed the petition, submitting that there was no legal mandate obligating the police to upload charge sheets on an official website after investigation. It was further argued by the State that such an obligation would be unreasonable and could interfere with the judicial process where a charge sheet has been filed or is yet to be filed. The Allahabad High Court, aligning with the reasoning of the Supreme Court’s 2024 judgment, concluded that the petitioner was not entitled to the relief sought. The bench noted that the petition lacked legal merit and accordingly dismissed it, affirming that mandatory uploading of charge sheets on a public portal is not required under existing law and that such documents are not to be treated as public documents for general online access.
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