Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • Official Secrets Act

    Uploaded by

    Prashant Rohit
    15 views3 pages
    The Delhi police arrested a strategic affairs analyst under the Official Secrets Act for allegedly passing Indian troop deployment information to Chinese intelligence officers. The OSA broadly deals with spying, espionage, and disclosure of secret government information, though it does not clearly define "secret." Critics argue the OSA conflicts with the Right to Information Act and can be misused to charge journalists. Several committees have recommended repealing or amending the OSA to make it more transparent and consistent with democracy and the RTI Act.

    Original Description:

    Original Title

    official-secrets-act

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    The Delhi police arrested a strategic affairs analyst under the Official Secrets Act for allegedly passing Indian troop deployment information to Chinese intelligence officers. The OSA broadly deals with spying, espionage, and disclosure of secret government information, though it does not clearly define "secret." Critics argue the OSA conflicts with the Right to Information Act and can be misused to charge journalists. Several committees have recommended repealing or amending the OSA to make it more transparent and consistent with democracy and the RTI Act.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pdf or txt
    15 views3 pages

    Official Secrets Act

    Uploaded by

    Prashant Rohit
    The Delhi police arrested a strategic affairs analyst under the Official Secrets Act for allegedly passing Indian troop deployment information to Chinese intelligence officers. The OSA broadly deals with spying, espionage, and disclosure of secret government information, though it does not clearly define "secret." Critics argue the OSA conflicts with the Right to Information Act and can be misused to charge journalists. Several committees have recommended repealing or amending the OSA to make it more transparent and consistent with democracy and the RTI Act.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    Arrest Under Official Secrets Act

    drishtiias.com/printpdf/arrest-under-official-secrets-act

    Why in News
    Recently, Delhi police has arrested a strategic affairs analyst under the Official Secrets
    Act (OSA), 1923 for passing information such as the deployment of Indian troops on the
    border to Chinese intelligence officers.

    Key Points
    Official Secrets Act:
    OSA broadly deals with two aspects — spying or espionage and
    disclosure of secret information of the government.
    However, the OSA does not define the secret information, the
    government follows the Manual of Departmental Security
    Instructions, 1994 for classifying a document as secret.
    Generally secret information includes any official code, password,
    sketch, plan, model, article, note, document, or information.
    If guilty, a person may get up to 14 years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both.
    Both the person communicating the information and the person receiving the
    information can be punished under the OSA.
    Background:
    OSA has its roots in the British colonial era. The Indian Official Secrets Act
    (Act XIV), 1889 was brought in, with the objective of muzzling the voice of a
    large number of newspapers that had come up in several languages, and were
    opposing the British policies.
    The Act XIV was amended and made more stringent in the form of The
    Indian Official Secrets Act, 1904, during Lord Curzon’s tenure as Viceroy of
    India.
    In 1923, a newer version was notified, the Indian Official Secrets Act (Act
    No XIX of 1923).
    It was extended to all matters of secrecy and confidentiality in
    governance in the country.
    1/3
    Issues Involved:
    Conflict with Right to Information Act: It has often been argued that the
    OSA is in direct conflict with the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.
    Section 22 of the RTI Act provides for its primacy vis-a-vis
    provisions of other laws, including OSA. So if there is any
    inconsistency in OSA with regard to furnishing of information, it will be
    superseded by the RTI Act.
    However, under Sections 8 and 9 of the RTI Act, the government can
    refuse information. Effectively, if the government classifies a document as
    secret under OSA, that document can be kept outside the ambit of the RTI
    Act, and the government can invoke Sections 8 or 9.
    Misinterpretation of Breach of National Security: Section 5 of OSA,
    which deals with potential breaches of national security, is often
    misinterpreted.
    The Section makes it a punishable offence to share information that may
    help an enemy state.
    The Section comes in handy for booking journalists when they publicise
    information that may cause embarrassment to the government or the
    armed forces.
    Suggestions Made:
    In 1971, the Law Commission in its report on ‘Offences Against National
    Security’, observed that merely because a circular is marked secret or
    confidential, it should not attract the provisions of the OSA if the publication
    thereof is in the interest of the public and no question of national emergency
    and interest of the State as such arises.
    The Law Commission, however, did not recommend any changes to
    the OSA.
    In 2006, the 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC)
    recommended that OSA be repealed, and replaced with a chapter in the
    National Security Act, 1980 containing provisions relating to official
    secrets.
    It observed that OSA was unsuitable with the regime of
    transparency in a democratic society.
    In 2015, the government had set up a committee to look into provisions of the
    OSA in light of the RTI Act which submitted its report in June 2017,
    recommending that OSA be made more transparent and in line with
    the RTI Act.

    Way Forward

    2/3
    The definition of "secret" needs to be clearly defined in the OSA, so that there is no
    scope of misinterpretation. Also there is a need for OSA to be brought in line with the
    RTI Act.

    Source: IE

    3/3

    You might also like