7/11 accused wants books to study, HC treats his letter as PIL.

Indian Express:New Delhi:Tuesday, May 22, 2012.

A letter by a prime accused in the 2006 Mumbai serial train blasts to the Delhi High Court may determine the rights of a prisoner, who would fall in the BPL category, to get study material under RTI.

Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddiqui had sought copies of books published by the Central Council for Research in Homeopathy (CCRH) under RTI to “study” the same. The CCRH refused on the ground that these were “priced publications” and hence could not be given free. His request for soft copies was also turned down, citing copyright laws.

However, Siddiqui argued that since he fell in the below poverty line category, a fact verified by the Bombay High Court Registrar, he should be given this “information” free of cost.

After his pleas with the CCRH and the Central Information Commission failed to yield any results, Siddiqui drafted a letter petition and mailed it to the Delhi High Court. After taking due note of the five-page letter that reached it in the first week of May, the court has converted it to a PIL. Justice Vipin Sanghi has also appointed advocate Sumeet Pushkarna as amicus curiae to assist the case.

Siddiqui cites Section 7(5) of the RTI Act that says that even for supplying a priced publication, no fee shall be charged from persons under the BPL category. He also points out that his status itself has not been questioned by RTI departments of the CCRH. A denial citing monetary reasons, he says, is therefore wrong.

The RTI enables an applicant to obtain information, including copies of books or other such material, unless exempted from disclosure. Siddiqui also raises questions over invoking of copyright laws, pointing out that providing soft copies does not violate the same unless the copies are published by anyone for financial gains without their permission.

Requesting the court to direct the CCRH to provide the information to him under RTI, he has also urged that he be brought to court by his jail superintendent for every date of hearing in the Delhi High Court.

One of the prime accused in the Mumbai 7/11 terror attacks of 2006, in which seven bombs kept in first-class coaches of Mumbai’s suburban trains and at railway stations had killed 187, Siddiqui has been lodged in jail since 2006.