Allahabad High Court Rejects PIL Seeking Mandatory Upload Of Chargesheets In All Cases On UP Police Website
The Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea filed in 2020 that sought a directive for the Uttar Pradesh Police to upload every charge sheet on its official website within 24 hours of concluding an investigation.A bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Abdhesh Kumar Chaudhary relied heavily on the Supreme Court's 2024 judgment in Saurav Das...
The Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea filed in 2020 that sought a directive for the Uttar Pradesh Police to upload every charge sheet on its official website within 24 hours of concluding an investigation.
A bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Abdhesh Kumar Chaudhary relied heavily on the Supreme Court's 2024 judgment in Saurav Das v. Union of India, 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 52, wherein it was observed that copies of charge sheets aren't public documents and cannot be put online.
In this 2024 verdict, the Supreme Court held that placing charge sheets in the public domain would be contrary to the CrPC scheme and could violate the rights of the accused, the victim, and the investigating agency.
The HC was essentially dealing with a PIL plea filed by one Mohd. Irfan Siddiqui seeking direction to the State authorities to upload each and every charge sheet in all the police stations across the state on the official website, uppolice.gov.in.
He prayed that this be done as early as possible, and preferably within twenty-four hours of the conclusion of the investigation. Furthermore, the petition sought directions to the concerned police and circle officers to ensure that a certified copy of the charge sheet is supplied to the accused, their representative, pairokar, or advocate within twenty-four hours of an application being made.
The state government filed a counter-affidavit opposing the plea and argued that the law doesn't require uploading of a charge-sheet prepared by investigating officers after investigation on the relevant website.
It was also submitted that it is not reasonable to do so for the reasons mentioned therein, as it would also amount to interference in the process of the Court where a charge-sheet has been filed or is to be filed.
Adopting the reasoning of the Supreme Court in Sourav Das (supra) case, the Allahabad High Court concluded that the petitioner was not entitled to the relief prayed for. The Bench observed that the petition lacked merit and thus dismissed it.
Case title - Mohd.Irfan Siddiqui vs. State Of U.P.Through Secy. Home And Anr 2026 LiveLaw (AB) 12
Case citation : 2026 LiveLaw (AB) 12