This article has been written by Kumari Shruti, a student of Army Law College, Pune

Introduction 

Chargesheet is basically the final report which is prepared after first information reports and filed after collecting sufficient number of circumstantial evidences or proofs and witnesses and after filing which the trial or legal proceeding of a particular criminal case initiates. There is no fixed time period or deadline to file the chargesheet and also no authority can compel the law enforcements or investigation agency to file chargesheet within any specific time limit but if any accused is already imprisoned or have taken under custody then it is the duty of police officer to file the chargesheet within 60 days (in case where committed offence has prescribed punishment of less than 10 years ) or 90 days (in case where committed offence has a prescribed punishment of more than  10 years otherwise it would be considered as untraced report and the prisoner’s arrest will be considered as illegal.

• What is Chargesheet?

A chargesheet is the final report prepared by a police officer or investigative agency after completion of investigation of a particular case which is defined under section 173 of the Criminal Code of Procedure.

The supreme court ruled In the case of K Veeraswami vs Union of India & others (1999) that the chargesheet is the final report of the police officer under section 173(2) of the Criminal Code of Procedure.

• Procedure of filing a chargesheet

       For non-cognizable offence: –

• In case of non-cognizable offence, a police officer can not file the FIR directly. After getting report or information of the said offences he has to refer the informant to the concerned magistrate for the investigation order until then he cannot start investigation

For cognizable offence: –

• In Cognizable offence police can arrest a suspect or accused or offender without warrant and are authorized to initiate the investigation itself and do not need to take permission or order from the court.

• In case of cognizable offence police officer can directly lodge the FIR and immediately send the report to the concerned magistrate. After that he can personally go to the spot where crime has been committed and start investigating for the facts and circumstances and take reasonable measures to discover and imprison the culprit.

• It should be filed against the accused after police or law enforcement/investigative agency gather sufficient evidence with respect to the offenses mentioned in the FIR, within a specified period of time i.e. 60 days in cases triable by lower courts and 90 days in cases triable by session courts otherwise a cancellation report or untraced report will be filed due to lack of evidence and it would be considered illegal to arrest or detain the suspect and the same will be entitled to bail.

• After complete preparation of chargesheet the same will be forwarded to concerned magistrate who further take notice of the offences mentioned in it so that charges can be framed so that it can be presented during the trial to show the offences the accused is charged with.

Note: –   The police can forward the case to the magistrate only if they have enough evidence otherwise the accused will be released.

• Chargesheet comprises 
• All the details and records from the very beginning of investigation, from filing FIR to till the solving or completion of investigation and preparation of final report.

• The details of parties involved, witness details, names of the accused or person who were taken in custody and the reason or charges why they are brought in custody and the identity of accused. 

• If the accused is still under custody arrested or released, whether any action taken or not and what kind of action has been taken.

• After submission of chargesheet to a court of law, the legal proceeding begins against the accused.

• Recent developments and rulings pertaining to chargesheet 

Recently supreme court of India held that chargesheets are not public documents and enabling their free public access violates the provisions of the Criminal Code of Procedure as it encroaches upon the rights of the accused, victim and the investigation agency. The bench used the term misplaced for the reference taken by Prashant Bhushan of Youth Bar Association case. FIRS are directed to be uploaded or represented on the website and that doesn’t mean chargesheet should also be posted.

                                            Court said that it is clearly mentioned under section 74 and section 76 of the Evidence Act, 1872 that a chargesheet cannot be made publicly available as its not a public document.

              1.   It defines public document under section 74 of Evidence act 1872 as those which form the acts or records of the acts-

i)   of sovereign authority,

ii)  of official bodies, tribunals and 

iii) of public officers either legislative, judicial or executive in any part of India, Commonwealth or a foreign country.

 2. It also includes public records kept in any state of private documents.

As per section 75 of the evidence act all other documents other than the documents mentioned in section 74 of the evidence act are all private documents.

Section 76 of evidence act,1872 says that: –

 Certified copies of public documents.

—Every public officer having the custody of a public document, which any person has a right to inspect, shall give that person on demand a copy of it on payment of the legal fees therefor, together with a certificate written at the foot of such copy that it is a true copy of such document or part thereof, as the case may be, and such certificate shall be dated and subscribed by such officer with his name and his official title, and shall be sealed, whenever such officer is authorized by law to make use of a seal; and such copies so certified shall be called certified copies.

—Every public officer having the custody of a public document, which any person has a right to inspect, shall give that person on demand a copy of it on payment of the legal fees therefor, together with a certificate written at the foot of such copy that it is a true copy of such document or part thereof, as the case may be, and such certificate shall be dated and subscribed by such officer with his name and his official title, and shall be sealed, whenever such officer is authorized by law to make use of a seal; and such copies so certified shall be called certified copies.” Explanation. —Any officer who, by the ordinary course of official duty, is authorized to deliver such copies, shall be deemed to have the custody of such documents within the meaning of this section.

• Conclusion

Therefore, the Supreme court held that state is not obliged to provide the chargesheet filed by investigation agency and not a public document which could be shown or presented to be put in public domain by any means whether by uploading or posting it on any website and it cannot be subject to disclosure or fall under the purview of Right to Information Act. The court also said that the direction in the youth bar association case cannot be extended to chargesheets and cannot be stretched to the public at large so far as the chargesheets are concerned and it is also contrary to the scheme of the code of criminal procedure.

• References :-

Aishwarya Says:

Law students often face problems, which they cannot share with their friends and families. We have started a column on our website Student’s Corner. In this column we are talking to several law students about the challenges that they face. Students who are interested in participating in the same, can fill this Google Form.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING IN THE SAME, DO LET ME KNOW.

The copyright of this Article belongs exclusively to Ms. Aishwarya Sandeep. Reproduction of the same, without permission will amount to Copyright Infringement. Appropriate Legal Action under the Indian Laws will be taken.

If you would also like to contribute to my website, then do share your articles or poems to aishwarya@aishwaryasandeep.com

Join our  Whatsapp Group for latest Job Opening