New Delhi, May 7 (Bureau) The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside the Delhi High Court’s order validating the publication of the ‘history sheet’ and directed all the State authorities and union territories to revisit their policies and consider amendments in adding names in the History Sheet. The Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice KV Viswanathan while hearing the case of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Amanatullah Khan in the Waqf Bribery Case observed, “History sheet is an internal police document and must not be brought in the public domain.’ ‘The Bench also directed the Commissioner of Police to designate a senior police officer in the rank of joint commissioner to pre-emptively audit the history sheets and their contents, to ensure the maintenance of confidentiality and desirability of deleting the names of such persons/juveniles/children who are in the course of investigation found to be innocent and are found entitled to be expunged from the category of “Relations and connections of history-sheeter”.
The Apex Court directed the police authorities that their amended standing order should be given effect forthwith and the order shall be applied to this case also. The Bench said, “ It goes without saying that if a police officer is found to have acted against the amended order or the direction, firm action against such delinquent officers will be required to be taken.” On the last hearing date, the Top Court had directed to expunge the names of minor relatives of AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan from the history sheet. The Court also directed the Delhi Police that the amended standing order passed by the Apex Court on March 21, 2024, in which it had directed to expunge the names of all those found innocent from the category of History-Sheeter, shall be applied forthwith to the present case. Khan’s Counsel had submitted that the names of relatives, including minors, were mentioned in the history sheet and there was a leakage of information in the department as someone shared the information with other political parties, therefore, this affects their right to privacy and confidentiality.
The appeal was filed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Amanatullah Khan, challenging the order of the Delhi High Court regarding the decision of Delhi Police to list him as a “history-sheeter” and of “bad character” in connection with a bribery case where he had allegedly misappropriated Delhi Wakf Board’s funds. The Court had highlighted that the amended standing orders state that details of any minor relative should not be recorded anywhere in the history sheet unless there is evidence that the minor had earlier afforded shelter to the offender, while he was on the run from police. Earlier the Counsel for the Delhi Police had submitted that he had advised the competent authority to suitably amend the provisions of the Punjab Police Rules, 1934, which are currently being applied in NCT of Delhi, therefore the Court directed the competent authority to consider the recommendation made by them and take necessary action within eight weeks.