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Bombay HC directs I&B ministry to pay Rs25,000 to social activist Saket Gokhale
Gokhale had petitioned the court seeking damages of ₹50 lakh on the ground that he was made to undergo mental agony and trauma after his personal information was uploaded on the ministry’s website
The Bombay high court has directed the Union information and broadcasting ministry to pay activist Saket Gokhale ₹25,000 and conduct an inquiry into why his personal information was put on its website.
Gokhale moved the court seeking ₹50 lakh damages from the ministry saying it subjected him to agony and trauma by uploading the information.
Gokhale, who argued his own case, told a division bench of justices Nitin Jamdar and Milind Jadhav that he would submit applications to the ministry under the Right to Information Act.
The ministry’s lawyer, Rui Rodrigues, told the court the information will be removed from the website and also filed an affidavit on the preliminary inquiry and action initiated.
The court asked the ministry to submit a report within three months and gave liberty to the petitioner to move the court again if it was not done. It added Gokhale’s plea seeking ₹50 lakh compensation be left for a civil court to decide.
