The Bombay High Court’s (HC) Nagpur bench has quashed a case lodged against a man under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) for shooting a video inside a police station in Wardha in March 2018.
The court observed that a station is not included as a prohibited place under the OSA and hence the act cannot be an offence. While quashing the case against Mr Ravindra Upadhyay, a two-judge bench referred to two provisions of the OSA and stated that the exhaustive definition of a ‘prohibited place’ in section 2(8) doesn’t specifically include a station.
It therefore opined that none of the ingredients of the alleged offence are made out against the applicant. According to the complaint, Mr Upadhyay was at Wardha police station with his wife in connection with a dispute with a neighbour, who was at the time filing a cross complaint against him.
When Mr Upadhyay started recording a video on his phone, the police booked him for the act, claiming that it’s prohibited to do so in a station. He approached the HC, which quashed the FIR and subsequent charge sheet filed.
