Supreme Court Seeks Union's Response On Plea Seeking Free Supply Of Chargesheet To Complainants/Victims

The Supreme Court today issued notice on a petition seeking directions to authorities for free-of-cost supply of chargesheets/final reports to complainants/victims and issuance of notice at pre-trial stage.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta was hearing the petition, filed by a practicing lawyer, under Article 136 of the Constitution. The petition challenges a Delhi High Court judgment of February, 2024 which disposed of similar prayers without issuing the directions sought by the petitioner.

During the hearing today, it was urged by the petitioner's counsel that though CrPC provides that a victim has right to participate in criminal proceedings initiated upon his/her complaint, there is no provision for a direction to supply chargesheet to the victim.

Taking note of the submissions and material on record, the Bench issued notice. Before parting with the matter, Mehta, J suggested that the petitioner should look at the judgment in Bhagwant Singh v. Commissioner of Police.

To recap, the genesis of the case lies in the petitioner approaching the Delhi High Court with a PIL for directions: (i) to all the District Courts/ Police Stations to supply a copy of the chargesheet/police report/final report to the complainant/victim at free of cost, and (ii) to all District Courts to issue notice to complainants/victims at the time of taking of cognizance.

This PIL was disposed of by a Division Bench of the High Court, noting that the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India (Women Safety Division) issued direction to all states and UTs on October 9, 2020 for implementation of 'Standard Operating Procedure ("SOP") for Investigation and Prosecution of Rape against Women' prepared by Bureau of Police Research and Development.

In paragraph 23 of this SOP (which pertains to sexual offences against women and children), police has been directed to provide a copy of chargesheet to the victim/informant without any cost.

The High Court further took into account Part F (Volume-IV, Chapter 17) titled 'Preparation and Supply of Copies' of the Delhi High Court Rules, as per which a party to a criminal case is entitled to obtain copies of the record of the case upon filing of an application.

Based on the above, it was concluded that in cases pertaining to sexual offences against women and children, there is adequate statutory mechanism in existence for a victim or complainant to obtain copies/certified copies, and therefore, no further direction was merited.

So far as the petitioner's prayer for directions to issue notice to complainants/victims at pre-trial stage, the High Court noted that there was no such mandate in criminal law. It was further of the view that if petitioner's prayer was allowed, the direction would result in avoidable and undesirable delays in trials and work against the objective of expeditious trials.

Aggrieved by the High Court judgment, the petitioner approached the Supreme Court. Besides the foregoing aspects, he points out in the petition that the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita includes a provision for supply of chargesheet/final report to victim. However, the same is yet to come into force, "leaving the victims in lurch in the interregnum".

Case Title: Vivek Kumar Gaurav v. Union of India, SLP(C) No.7446/2024