Even the accused has a right to know and the victim’s family can seek information about ongoing investigations, the Central Information Commission has ruled, in two different cases.
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In the first case, Nahar Singh, against whom Delhi Police had initiated externment proceeding, wanted to know the basis on which the externment process was started. The police refused information pleading that revealing such information may lead to interference with on-going magisterial proceedings.
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Singh, however, stated that mala-fide externment proceeding has disturbed his family’s life and peace. "The person who is the object of inquiry, suffers anxiety, financial loss and loss of reputation and is mentally broken by the time the proceedings reach any finality," Singh told CIC. He sought information so that he is saved from the usual consequences of long drawn out proceedings by initiating appropriate steps to defend and protect himself.
In his decision, Information Commission AN Tiwari said that report of lower police officers to their superiors on his externment should be shared with the accused in normal course and is not barred from disclosing under Section 8 (1) of the Right to Information Act. However, the police can protect the interests of witnesses or any other person, whose name is there in the report, by not providing them to the accused, Tiwari said, while asking Delhi Police to provide information to Singh within two weeks.
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In the second case, Mangto Ram, had sought information about the investigations into death of his daughter under unexplained circumstances. Delhi Police refused information citing section 8 (1)(h) of the RTI Act that exempts sharing of information that can impede the outcome of ongoing investigations.
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In the second case, Mangto Ram, had sought information about the investigations into death of his daughter under unexplained circumstances. Delhi Police refused information citing section 8 (1)(h) of the RTI Act that exempts sharing of information that can impede the outcome of ongoing investigations.
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Information Commission AN Tiwari differed with the police and said the exception to the section can be applied as the victim’s family doesn't want any obstacles in the on going investigations. "Far from impeding the investigation, taking the appellant into confidence will give a positive direction to the investigation and enable the authorities to swiftly reach at the truth," Tiwari, said in his order.
He also directed the police to provide status of the investigation to the appellant within three weeks.
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.
