Mumbai police refuse details of illegal migrants under RTI

Outlook India: Mumbai: Sunday, 08 March 2020.

The Mumbai Police has refused to reveal any information pertaining to illegal immigrants detained in the city as it is forbidden under the law, said an RTI activist here on Saturday.

The activist Anil Galgali had sought details under Right To Information Act on the number of illegal immigrants caught and deported by the police in the past five years.

He also asked for details of the sections invoked against such detained illegal immigrants, the maximum punishments/fines imposed on them.

"This information has been declined on grounds that it is exempted under RTI Act 2005, Sec. 24(1) in Part 6. It is claimed that details of registration, visa and other information of residents of India cannot be shared," Galgali said.

The information was provided by Senior Police Inspector, Crime Branch, Ravindra Dalvi in the form of notings by Senior Police Inspector, Special Branch Ravindra Katkar, he added.

"This is strange since I had sought information about the illegal stay of foreign nationals. However, the police seem to have used the protection granted to Indian nationals and have not given the otherwise basic information though it is bound to publicly reveal such details under RTI Act Sec. 4," Galgali pointed out.

Along with the RTI reply, Galgali was provided with a circular of the Intelligence Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs dated October 31, 2014, on the issue of FROs providing information under RTI on registration, visa and other immigration matters.

The circular has stated that the Bureau of Immigration (BOI) is the repository of data pertaining to Immigration & Registration functions which is under the IB.

"As per the provisions of the RTI Act 2005, Chapter VI, Section 24(1) and Second Schedule, the BOI/IB is exempted from providing any information/details under the RTI Act," states the circular.

The circular adds that since the FROs work under the powers delegated by the MHA as an extension of BOI function only, it is exempted under RTI and any RTI queries received by FROs "should be disposed without giving information of Immigration & Registration data".