Article 124: Disclosing or obtaining State security secrets

Firm annotation

Section 124 is the disclosure limb of the State-secrets pair in the chapter on external security. Its elements are an act done in order that another person may learn or obtain a statement, document or thing, and the requirement that the item be kept secret for the safety of the country. The direction of the act is what matters: acting in order to obtain such a secret oneself is Section 123, and both sections carry the same base penalty of not more than ten years, so the distinction is one of conduct rather than gravity. Because the offence turns on the purpose, it is complete whether or not the other person actually learned or obtained anything. Section 124 carries its own aggravations in its second and third paragraphs and does not depend on a neighbouring section for them: five to fifteen years where the offence is committed while the country is engaged in fighting or in war, and death or imprisonment for life where it is committed in order that a foreign State may benefit. The neighbouring provisions address different subject matter: Section 125 is forging, withholding, concealing, removing, damaging or destroying a document or form concerning the interests of the State in international affairs; Section 126 is dishonestly failing to carry out State business entrusted by the Government to be conducted with a foreign government; and Section 127 is doing any act in order to cause trouble to the country from outside.