Chandigarh, March 12 -- : The Punjab and Haryana high court has held that an accused, by invoking the provisions of the Right to Information Act (RTI) Act, is not entitled to access a police case diary relating to his criminal case, particularly when the investigation or trial is still in progress.

While dealing with an appeal filed by the Punjab government against the state information commission's decision, the high court bench of justice Kuldeep Tiwari said that if Sections 8(1)(h) and 22 of the RTI Act are read together with Section 172(3) of the CrPC, it clearly demonstrates that these provisions "function in tandem". Now, the CrPC has been replaced with the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023.

"..the legislative intent...