Copy of medico legal case in connection with an incident was sought under RTI
19 Nov, 2012Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Delhi Police seeking information regarding the nature of injuries of his sister-in-law and a copy of the Medico legal case (MLC) in connection with an incident that occurred. He also requested a copy of the statement of his sister-in-law taken by the Police and in case no statement was recorded the reasons thereof. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the information under section 8(1)(h) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; of the RTI Act.
Proceeding
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant stated that the action taken by the police is one-sided because injuries were inflicted upon the appellant’s sister-in-law as well as the other party whereas the Police have made the appellant’s sister-in-law as an accused and have taken action only against her and no action has been taken against the other alleged person. The respondent showed a copy of the MLC in which it was mentioned against the column of nature of injuries as ‘under observation’.
View of CIC
The Commission observed that the respondent have not explained how the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders would be impeded by providing a copy of the MLC to the appellant. The Commission directed the PIO to provide to the appellant the copy of the final report (MLC) of the injuries inflicted on the appellant’s relative with reasons why the statement of his relative has not been recorded by the police.
Citation: Mr. Saista Khan v. Delhi Police in Case No. CIC/SS/A/2012/001475
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/807
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission