08/07/2019
Official Secrets Act, 1923 (Act No. XIX of 1923).
(8) "prohibited place" means
(a) any work of defence, arsenal, naval, military or air force
establishment or station, mine, minefield, camp, ship or aircraft
belonging to, or occupied by or on behalf of, Government, any military
telegraph or telephone so belonging or occupied, any wireless or signal
station or office so belonging or occupied and any factory, dockyard or
other place so belonging or occupied and used for the purpose of
building, repairing, making or storing any munitions of war, or any
sketches, plans, models or documents relating thereto, or for the
purpose of getting any metals, oil or minerals of use in time of war;
(b) any place not belonging to Government where any munitions of war
or any sketches, models, plans or documents relating thereto, are
being made, repaired, gotten or stored under contract with, or with any
person on behalf of, Government, or otherwise on behalf of
Government;
(c) any place belonging to or used for the purpose of Government
which is for the time being declared by the Government, by notification
in the official Gazette, to be a prohibited place for the purposes of this
Act on the ground that information with respect thereto, or damage
thereto, would be useful to an enemy, and to which a copy of the
notification in respect thereof has been affixed in English and in 5[
Bengali];
(d) any railway, road, way or channel, or other means of
communication by land or water (including any works or structures
being part thereof or connected therewith) or any place used for gas,
water or electricity works or other works for purposes of a public
character, or any place where any munitions of war or any sketches,
models, plans, or documents relating thereto, are being made, repaired
or stored otherwise than on behalf of Government, which is for the
time being declared by the Government, by notification in the official
Gazette, to be a prohibited place for the purposes of this Act on the
ground that information with respect thereto, or the destruction or
obstruction thereof, or interference therewith, would be useful to an
enemy, and to which a copy of the notification in respect thereof has
been affixed in English and in 6[ Bengali]:
Provided that where for declaring a prohibited place under subclause
(c) or subclause (d) a notification in the official Gazette is not
considered desirable in the interest of the security of the State, such
declaration may be made by an order a copy or notice of which shall
be prominently displayed at the point of entry to, or at conspicuous
place near, the prohibited place;
(9) "sketch" includes any photograph or other mode of representing
any place or thing; and
(10) "Superintendent of Police" includes any police officer of a like or
superior rank, and any person upon whom the powers of a
Superintendent of Police are for the purposes of this Act conferred by
the Government.
Penalties for
spying
3.(1) If any person for any purpose prejudicial to the safety or
interests of the State
(a) approaches, inspects, passes over or is in the vicinity of, or enters,
any prohibited place; or
(b) makes any sketch, plan, model, or note which is calculated to be
or might be or is intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an
enemy; or
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