The Delhi High Court recently rejected a plea by Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddique, a death row convict in the 7/11 Mumbai train blast case, for information under the Right to Information Act (RTI Act) concerning the details of IPS
and IAS officers involved in the investigation and prosecution of his case.
Justice Subramonium Prasad ruled that disclosing such information could pose serious risks to the officers’ safety and was not in public interest.
Siddique, sentenced to death in 2015 for his role in the bombings that resulted in 189 deaths and over 800 injuries, sought details about the IPS and IAS officers who oversaw the investigation and granted prosecution sanction.
His plea also included a request for copies of their Union Public Service Commission forms and other appointment-related documents.
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The court noted that since the incident occurred in 2006 and less than 20 years had passed, the exemption clause under Section 8(3) of the RTI Act, which allows for the release of certain exempted information after two decades, does not apply.
Justice Prasad said that even after 20 years, the privacy and safety of the officers involved would take precedence over the convict’s request, especially considering the lack of a demonstrated public interest in disclosing this information.
Moreover, Siddique’s separate plea for a copy of an alleged Intelligence Bureau (IB) report, which he claimed suggested wrongful arrests in the bomb blast case, was also rejected.
The court upheld the Central Information Commission’s (CIC) decision, citing the baselessness of relying solely on newspaper reports for such claims and affirming the credibility of the IB’s affidavit denying the existence of the report. (IANS)
