Hyderabad, June 26 -- A United States federal judge on Thursday, June 25, ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to either release unredacted versions of key documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, or provide a legal justification for keeping them blacked out, in a sharp rebuke to the DOJ's handling of records that have been at the centre of public scrutiny for months.

US District Judge Emmet Sullivan gave the government until July 2 to comply with the order.

The documents in question include eight emails in which either the sender or recipient has been redacted, a draft indictment of Epstein with the names of potential co-conspirators obscured, and a 2019 email that references several unnamed individuals.

Sulliva...