Security cover: Jashodaben continues her RTI fight

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's estranged wife Jashodaben Modi has again filed an RTI application seeking details of the security cover she has been given and facilities to which she is entitled, her brother said on Friday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's wife estranged wife Jashodaben has again sought details of the security cover provided to her, filing an application under the Right to Information Act after she was denied answers to all her questions in her first letter, her brother said on Friday.

Jashodaben had filed an application under the RTI Act in November last year with Mehsana police seeking details of the security provided to her after Modi became prime minister.

Mehsana police, which denied her earlier request, had said the questions asked by her fell under the purview of the local intelligence bureau, which has been insulated from the RTI act by the Gujarat government.

"She has filed an appeal before the superintendent of police of Mehsana district as the earlier set of questions were not answered by the police," Ashok Modi told HT.

He also queried why the police, in their original reply, had referred to Jashodaben as the daughter of Chimanbhai Modi, while in her application Jashodaben had called herself the PM's wife.

After Modi took over as the PM in May last year, the Gujarat government provided Jashodaben with four commandos at her residence. They tail her wherever she goes, including during her recent trip to Mumbai.

In both her applications, Jashodaben stated: "I, the petitioner, who is the wife of Prime Minister Narendra Modi… travel by public transport while my bodyguards travel by official vehicle."

"I should be provided a certified copy of the order under which security is provided to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's family members, brothers, sisters and me," she wrote, asking for details to be given within 48 hours as the issue pertained to a "life and death" matter.

Elaborating, she cited the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi by her own commandos.

"The commandos assigned to me have no official order by which they have been posted at my residence," the application said.

Jashodaben is a retired school teacher in her early sixties who lives with her brother Ashok in a north Gujarat village.