The Official Secrets Act 1923 is essentially India’s anti-espionage law and has under its purview all matters of secrecy and confidentiality with regard to the government. The law extends to the whole of India and also applies to servants of the Government and to Indian citizens not residing in the country.
The most commonly invoked sections of the law are Sections 3 and 5. Under Section 3, the law deals with spying and under Section 5, it deals with disclosure of secret information of the government.
The latter, according to the law, could be anything from a secret official code, a password, a sketch, plan, model, article, note, document or information that could either directly or indirectly assist an enemy or even bring about the disclosure of a matter that could affect the integrity or sovereignty or security India or affect friendly relations with foreign states.
Both the person…