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Editor’s Note

Supreme Court verdict is a big

boost to investigative journalism

A journAlist’s unraveling of the Act and threat of invoking Officials Secret Act, but the
truth is a way of working in the Court relied on the principle that how a piece of evi-
best interests of society and this dence is obtained is immaterial, as long as it is relevant
is for what Tehelka stands for. The to adjudicating an issue. The decision on the admissibil-
Supreme Court’s recent verdict to ity of the documents points to the rights of a free press
consider the relevance of Rafale and underscores the significance of public interest. The
deal documents published in media judgment also makes it clear that the Official Secrets Act
is as such a big boost to investigative cannot be invoked to escape legal scrutiny on matters
journalism. It was only in December that the involving public interest.
Apex Court had dismissed a petition that alleged ‘com- The onus of leaks, would be on the one who leaked
mercial favouritism’ in the 59,000-crore Rafale deal the documents and not on the media houses that
sealed in 2016 with France for buying 36 fighter jets. choose to publish these. It is not important how the
The unanimous judgment by the three-member bench, documents were procured but merits of the docu-
led by chief justice Ranjan Gogoi, is a welcome verdict. ments. Raising the bogey of national interest to stall
The Supreme Court has overruled the objections that judicial scrutiny will never work. Earlier in a landmark
it should not take cognisance of ‘stolen’ documents. The verdict, the Supreme Court had sometime back up-
Ministry of Defence too objected to the review petition held freedom of speech on internet and struck down
saying that it would amount to putting classified infor- draconian law — Section 66A of Information Tech-
mation in the public domain. The Court has observed nology Act, which police has used indiscriminately to
that the test of admissibility of evidence lay in its rel- arrest persons who criticize government and political
evance. The Court observed that there was no provision leaders and earn their wrath. The Court found the law
in the Official Secrets Act under which executive could to be ambiguously worded, prone to misuse and, there-
‘restrain’ publication of papers marked as “secret”. The fore, stretched far beyond the “reasonable restrictions”
objections over the admissibility of some documents, criterion laid down under Article 19( 2) of the Consti-
earlier alleged to have been “stolen” and then found tution”. In view of the Supreme Court judgment, the
to be “photocopied in an unauthorized” manner, have government should welcome scrutiny as the final judg-
been overruled. ment on the merits of the Rafale deal is still to come.
There were claims of privilege under the Evidence
(chARAnjIt AhujA)

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Volume 16, Issue no. 7&8, 1-30 aprIl 2019, RELEASEd on 16 aprIl, numbER oF pAgES IncLudIng covER 68
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