Supreme Court Issues Notice On Ex-Army Officer's Plea For Supply Of Documents In Case Under Official Secrets Act For Book On RAW

The Supreme Court today issued notice on retired Major General VK Singh's challenge to a Delhi High Court order which allowed him inspection of documents relied upon by the CBI in the Official Secrets Act case against him, but not supply of those documents.

To recap, the Official Secrets Act case was lodged against Singh pursuant to his publication of a book post-retirement alleging corruption in RAW (Research and Analysis Wing).

A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi passed the order, after hearing Advocate Prashant Bhushan (for Singh).

Bhushan apprised the Court that the supply of documents relied upon in the chargesheet was allowed by the Magistrate, with a condition that Singh shall not disclose them. CBI had opposed the plea saying the documents contained sensitive information, but the Magistrate allowed supply of the documents.

Vide the impugned order, the High Court interfered with the Magistrate's order, thereby permitting only inspection of the documents by Singh. Bhushan further relied on a 1981 judgment in a factually similar case, to argue that if documents relied upon by the prosecution are not supplied, right to fair trial under Article 21 would be defeated. 

Background

After retiring from service in 2002, Singh published a book titled 'India's External Intelligence- Secrets of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)' in June 2007. An FIR was registered by CBI after which a complaint under the Official Secrets Act and police report were filed before the trial court in 2008. The case was initiated by a Deputy Secretary, Government of India, Cabinet Secretariat.

The grievance of CBI was that the names of officer, location of various places and recommendations of the GOM etc. were disclosed in the book. Initially, the Magistrate court ordered that copies or certain documents lying with the court be given to Singh and another accused.

In CBI's appeal, the High Court allowed the inspection of the documents sought by Singh and the other accused, as opposed to the supply of the copies of the documents to the counsel representing them. The Court noted that the purpose of supplying documents to the accused was to galvanise an accused person's right to a fair trial as has been enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

It said that the purpose was to protect the right of an accused to be provided with all the material that the prosecution proposes to rely upon in the trial. “In view of the above, the present petition is allowed to the extent that the impugned order is modified and the respondents along with their duly authorised counsel are permitted to inspect the documents lying with the learned Trial Court as and when required to enable the respondents to effectively defend themselves during the trial."

Aggrieved by the non-supply of documents, Singh approached the Supreme Court.

Case Title: V.K. SINGH Versus CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION AND ANR., SLP(Crl) No. 19493-19494/2025