Times of India: Bhopal: Monday,
March 18, 2013.
A day after
opposition Congress raised the issue of phone tapping in Madhya Pradesh (MP)
assembly, the state government has reportedly initiated an unofficial probe to
'identify' the mole in the secretariat who had allegedly leaked out a 'secret'
communication about phone-tapping between home and police headquarters, to the
media.
On Tuesday,
deputy leader of Congress legislature party in MP assembly Choudhary Rakesh
Singh Chaturvedi had raised the issue in the House. Citing a report in a local
newspaper he said that home department and police headquarters were tapping
phones of some politicians and officials. He said this was being done at the
behest of home minister Umashankar Gupta. The government rejected the
allegation.
The
communication in question- that reportedly pertains to a query to PHQ - got
'leaked' in a local daily in absence of principal secretary (home) I S Dhani,
four months ago, said sources. A few employees in the department have gone on
sudden leave, it is learnt.
The query was
made by M M Upadhyay who was officiating as principal secretary (home), said
sources.
This was not
the first time that Congress had criticised state government for resorting to
snooping on leaders. In 2010, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh too had
alleged that his phone was being tapped by the state government.
The state
government had been shying away from sharing information related to
'phone-tapings' for long. An RTI application seeking the figure of phones
tapped "officially' was turned down.
RTI activist
Rolly Shivhare had sought figures of phones tapped in MP between 2000 and 2008.
"I asked for numbers not the names of individuals, but to no avail,"
he told TOI.
This RTI was
filed after chief information commissioner (CIC) in Odisha directed Odisha
government to furnish number of phone-tapping cases disposing application by
one Biswapriya Kanungo. The Odisha home department complied with the CIC's
order responding that 417 telephones were tapped. In 2012, Kanungo filed
another application that revealed tapping of 4,620 phones in Odisha. "I
had enclosed the Odisha CIC's order with my application, which is still
pending" Shivhare said.
MP home
department receives at least 5 to 6 requests for tapping phones from the PHQ
every day - maximum related to criminal cases. When contacted officials at the
home department said section (C) that deals with the matter is out of RTI
purview.
Under Section
5 (2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, home secretary could order for
phone-tapping in five circumstances including sovereignty and integrity of the
country, public order, security of the state, telephone incitement and friendly
relation with foreign state and for preventing incitement to the commission of
an offence.
"According
to the guidelines of Union ministry of communication and information
technology, the committee require a sitting at least once in two months.
Besides ensuring that useless recordings are destroyed, this committee has also
powers to extend continuation of tapping up to 180 days on the basis of its
requirement.
The committee
in MP had met only twice in 2012, said sources.
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