High Court takes Delhi Police to task over media leaks

High Court takes Delhi Police to task over media leaks

Delhi High Court felt that media leaks need to be controlled for fairness to the accused and purity of investigation

The Delhi High Court on 1 March 2021 came down heavily on the local Delhi Police for its half-baked vigilance enquiry into how Delhi riots accused Asif Iqbal Tanha's alleged disclosure statement was leaked to media even before filing of the chargesheet.

A single-judge bench of Justice Mukta Gupta sought the presence of Special Commissioner of Delhi Police (Vigilance), before it in person on the next date of hearing.

"Your Special CP will come and explain how it (the allegation of the leak) is unsubstantiated. The allegation is substantiated. If you can't do it in your vigilance enquiry, orders will have to be passed," the Court said.

Advocate Amit Mahajan who represented Delhi Police in the Court conceded, terming the leak as undesirable and said that even the investigating agency was aggrieved by it.

"These need to be controlled for fairness to accused, fairness to investigation and purity of investigation," the Court said while referring to media leaks of the accused confession which has no evidence value when the trial starts.

"Not saying that you're solely responsible. You are saying that the file went to GNCTD and MHA. They are taken by your officer by hand and dealt by senior IAS officers. You have to find out when leak took place... It is also theft... It is your property. You are entitled to take action in law," the Court also, indicating that Delhi Police might not be solely responsible for the leak. It nonetheless observed that the authorities must now take action as per law, including calling private parties to be part of the vigilance enquiry.

The Courtsternly remarked that the disclosure statement that was leaked in the media was "not a document lying on the road", else the officer concerned would be guilty of negligence.

Justice Mukta Gupta remarked that there was no bar on action against anyone when there was a commission of an offence when Advocate Mahajan raised concerns about the possibility of a backlash against authorities in case of action against journalists.

Delhi riots accused Tanha had in his petition alleged that the police officials leaked his purported disclosure statement, which was recorded during the investigation, to the media and the same was carried by OpIndia and Zee Media regarding admission of his guilt.

Tanha has maintained that he was forced to sign papers in police custody.

Representing the accused, Advocate Siddharth Aggarwal argued before the Court that the issue of leaks to media was being faced across the board, by all accused in the case.

"Supplementary chargesheet was filed in the matter and media has passages after passages... Whatever be their position, they (Delhi Police) should come and give assistance to the Court," he said.

Noticing that only four or five statements had been recorded over the four months, the HC remarked, "...it does not say anything. Do you want me to say it is a useless piece of paper? Should I say it is in contempt of court? The file does not even show who conducted the vigilance enquiry."

The Court has now asked Aggarwal to state the criminal offences that arise out of the media leak and posted the matter for the next hearing on 5 March 2021.