Ex-IB spl director claims human rights violated in Ishrat case

A former Intelligence Bureau Special Director, also an accused in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, has claimed the CBI has refused to disclose its correspondence with Attorney General saying it is exempted from the RTI Act and his human rights are being violated.
Kumar, who is charge sheeted by CBI for alleged criminal conspiracy and murder, has claimed before the CIC that the matter related to violation of "his human rights to dignity and equality" and as per proviso to section 24(1) of the RTI Act CBI is not exempted.
He had approached the Department of Personnel and Training seeking the correspondence under the transparency law but it was forwarded to CBI which claimed the exemption given under the Right to Information Act by the UPA government.

The former IB officer pleaded before the Commission that information sought does not relate to operational matters of CBI or collection of intelligence by CBI.
"The appellant submitted that the respondent had earlier not informed him that information cannot be provided on the grounds that CBI is exempted from the purview of RTI Act. This seems to be an afterthought to deny information to him," Information Commissioner Sudhir Bhargava noted.
Posting the matter to further date, he said it is necessary to ascertain as to whether the matter pertains to allegations of human right violations against officers of CBI.

Experts are of the view that the Right to Information Act is not about records of an organisation or its employees. The Act is about any information which is "held by or under the control" of a public authority.

Even former Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra in one of his orders had directed CBI to disclose information on allegations of corruption.
"It (section 24 of the RTI Act) does not make any distinction between the exempted organisations on the basis of the functions they perform nor between allegations of corruption on the basis whether it is made against the employees of the exempt organisation or others," Mishra held.
According to the RTI Act, if the information (which is defined as any material in any form held by or under the control of a public authority) sought by an applicant pertains to allegations of human rights violations or corruption, the exemption given to the organisations like CBI does not apply.

Former Chief Information Commissioner A N Tiwari said, "If an applicant wants information related to an allegation of corruption or human rights violations, whether in general or about employees of the organisation, it should be judged on the basis of the RTI Act as such information is not exempted even in the case of organisations which are otherwise exempt under Section 24."
"A citizen can demand the information (any material in any form held by or under the control of a public authority) from CBI if it pertains to allegations of corruption and human rights violations. It does not matter whether information sought is about the organisation or any record held by it," said noted activist Venkatesh Nayak.

The CIC has now asked Kumar to provide written material to buttress his claims of human rights violation and posted the matter for future hearing.