Press Trust of India: New
Delhi: Saturday, June 24, 2017.
Facing flak for stating there was no human rights
violation in the Sukma Naxal attack in which 25 CRPF personnel were killed, the
force today tried to do some damage control claiming its version was
"misinterpreted".
It also said that the development painted the force in
"bad light".
The matter pertains to an RTI application filed by human
rights activist Venkatesh Nayak seeking an inquiry report in the April 24 Sukma
attack.
"I would like to obtain the following information...
as prima facie, it pertains to allegations of violation of the right to life of
CRPF personnel who were killed in the attack that occurred on April 24, 2017 in
Sukma, Chhattisgarh," the application stated.
"I believe this is a fit case for disclosure of
information under the second proviso of section 24 of the RTI Act. Kindly
obtain the approval of the Central Information Commission (CIC) prior to
disclosing the information...," it said.
The force is exempted from making disclosures under the
RTI Act, but the second proviso of Section 24(1) of the Act allows disclosure
of information sought if it pertains to allegations of human right violations
and corruption.
In order to disclose the information pertaining to the
human rights violation, the force needs to refer the matter to the Central
Information Commission.
In response to the application, the CRPF, in addition to
citing section 24(1) (which exempts it from the RTI Act) and security issues in
the report had said there appeared to be no violation of human rights in the
instant matter.
"In the instant matter, there appears to be no
violations of human rights as well as the facts of the case do not attract
allegations of corruption. Moreover, your application does not make any
reference to such allegations. Hence, this department is not liable to provide
any information in this regard to you under RTI Act, 2005," it said.
Finding itself in an embarrassing position after the
response, the CRPF issued a statement saying, "This RTI reply has been
misinterpreted and the news item is contrary to facts and paints the force in a
bad light."
"This department has replied that security forces
including CRPF are exempted to provide information, except those queries
related to allegations of corruption/violation of human rights under Section
24(1) of RTI Act-2005," it said.
The force added it had categorically intimated Nayak that
the inquiry report contained various security and tactics related issues which
cannot be shared under the RTI Act on the grounds that it might adversely
affect the organisation's strategic response.
There was, however, no mention of the human rights
violation issue in the CRPF statement.