RTI on awards for anti-militancy operations turned down in J-K

IBNLive.com: Srinagar: Saturday, June 16, 2012.

An RTI application, seeking information regarding the awards and promotions given to the police personnel for anti-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir, was turned down by the state government saying such a disclosure could be a "threat" to the state's interest. "The information pertaining to awards and promotions to the state police personnel for anti-militancy operations from 1989 to 2012 was denied by invoking section 8 of the J&K RTI act 2009," a release issued by Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), a human rights group, said. JKCCS had applied for the information from the department of Home on April 26. The rights group claimed that the department after a delay of 40 days, on June 6, transferred the RTI application to the Public Information Officer of the Police Headquarters, which rejected the information on June 11 citing Section 8 of the J&K RTI Act 2009. According to the section, the disclosure of the information related to awards and promotions for anti-militancy operations would be "prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of the country, besides being a threat to the security, strategic interests of the state." "This denial is an admission by the Jammu and Kashmir Police that the state does have a policy of incentivising the arrests and killings of militants," JKCCS alleged.