Official Secrets Act, 1923

The appellant Safi Mohammad was arrested on suspicion of supplying secret information about the Indian Armed Forces to Pakistani intelligence. During a search of his railway quarter, police seized a blue diary (1982) and a hand‑drawn map (Ex.D‑3) which were deemed by the Air Force to be useful to an enemy. He was convi…

The Supreme Court examined whether the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) could refuse to disclose information obtained from banks under the Right to Information (RTI) Act on the grounds of fiduciary relationship, economic interest, or commercial confidence. The Court held that RBI does not have a fiduciary relationship with …

The appellant, former ISRO scientist S. Nambi Narayanan, was arrested in 1994 on alleged espionage charges that were later found to be false by the CBI, leading to his discharge. He spent nearly fifty days in police custody, during which the Supreme Court found that the investigation by Kerala police was malicious, cau…

The respondent, Subhash Chandra Agarwal, filed three RTI applications seeking information about (1) correspondence regarding the appointment of three Supreme Court judges who superseded seniority, (2) declaration of assets by judges pursuant to a 1997 resolution, and (3) correspondence about a Union Minister allegedly …

The petitioners challenged the CBI's reliance on three documents that were allegedly taken without authorization from the Ministry of Defence and marked secret under the Official Secrets Act. The respondents argued that the review petition was untenable because the documents violated Sections 3 and 5 of the Official Se…

The appellant, the Secretary to the Government (Law & Order‑F), appealed against a Madras High Court order that quashed a preventive detention order issued under Section 3(1)(a) of the National Security Act, 1980 against a man arrested in September 2012 for alleged breach of the Official Secrets Act. The High Court had…

The Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) directed the Gujarat High Court to provide certified copies of judicial documents to a third‑party applicant under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act). The High Court, relying on Rule 151 of its own Rules, required the applicant to file an affidavit stating the purpose …

The State of Delhi appealed against a Delhi High Court order granting bail to Rajeev Sharma, who was arrested under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 and Section 120B of the IPC. Sharma filed multiple bail applications, all of which were dismissed, and later invoked Section 167(2) of the CrPC claimi…