Supreme Court - Daily Orders
C.B.I. vs V.K.Jha on 11 April, 2017
Bench: S.A. Bobde, L. Nageswara Rao
1
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL APPEAL NOS.1631-1632 OF 2009
C.B.I. ....APPELLANT(S)
VERSUS
V.K. JHA & ANR. ....RESPONDENT(S)
O R D E R
We have heard learned counsel appearing for the parties and perused the record.
We are not inclined to go into the questions as to the legality of the impugned order passed by the High Court which relies on some precedents. We specifically leave those questions open for consideration in an appropriate case.
However, we find that it would not be appropriate to permit the hard copies of the documents in question, to be handed over to the respondents though the respondents must be in a Signature Not Verified position to put up their defence. Digitally signed by SANJAY KUMAR Date: 2017.04.15 10:31:30 IST Reason: This can undoubtedly be done only if the respondents are aware of the contents of the 2 documents. This poses another problem, and that is the desirability of handing over the complete documents to the respondents since the documents are said to contain official secrets and in any case, sensitive information which is said to be prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India and security of the State.
On the last date of hearing, we had suggested to the learned counsel appearing for the appellant to find out a via-media.
Having heard learned counsel appearing for the parties, we find that the following order would meet the ends of justice :
The direction to hand over the documents to the respondents shall be modified as follows :
The Ministry of Defence (or persons duly authorized by them) shall black out the portions of the case documents which is likely to affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State or friendly relations with foreign States. The said copies of the scanned documents with blacked out portions will be provided to the CBI, and these documents shall be available for inspection and perusal of the accused and/or the duly authorized 3 advocate, in both soft copies and hard copies, between 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on all working days at the notified CBI office. This arrangement shall continue for the next three months, after which the accused and/or their duly authorized advocate shall be allowed to inspect/peruse the documents after giving due notice of 24 hours to the CBI officials. At no time shall the accused and/or their advocates be allowed to make any soft or hard copies of the said documents.
With the aforesaid directions, these appeals stand disposed of.
....................J [S. A. BOBDE] ....................J [L. NAGESWARA RAO] NEW DELHI;
APRIL 11, 2017.
4
ITEM NO.109 COURT NO.9 SECTION IIC
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Criminal Appeal Nos.1631-1632/2009 C.B.I. Appellant(s) VERSUS V.K.JHA & ANR. Respondent(s) (With office report) Date : 11/04/2017 These appeals were called on for hearing today. CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S.A. BOBDE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE L. NAGESWARA RAO For Appellant(s) Mr. Vibha Datta Makhija, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Rajiv Nanda, Adv.
Ms. Sadhna Sandhu, Adv.
Mr. M.K. Maroria, Adv.
For Mr. B. Krishna Prasad,Adv. For Respondent(s) Mr. Manu Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Sanjay Jain,Adv.
Mr. Abhir Datt, Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R These appeals stand disposed of in terms of the signed order.
(Sanjay Kumar-II) (Indu Pokhriyal)
Court Master Court Master
(Signed Order is placed on the file)