Times of India: Rajkot: Wednesday, 31 July 2024.
A magisterial court in
Rajkot sentenced a 48-year-old woman, Labhu Maru alias Parmar, to three years
of rigorous imprisonment for forging a Right to Information (RTI) reply. The
court concluded that Maru had altered an RTI response from the public information
officer (PIO) of a civil court to fabricate allegations of molestation against
court staff.
Chief judicial magistrate Neha Tanmay Kariya, who presided over the case, on July 26, acquitted Maru’s son, Ashish Parmar, who was a co-accused in the case. Legal aid defence counsel Ajay Tolani said Ashish was acquitted as no offence against him was proven during the trial.
According to the prosecution, Maru had submitted an RTI application requesting CCTV footage of Sep 21, 2022, from the court of additional district judge J D Suthar. She also sought personal details of the employees in the court’s Nazar branch, including their names, addresses, and phone numbers.
The application was rejected by the court PIO on the grounds that Maru had sought personal information which violated a Supreme Court order. As per the SC order, footage of CCTV cameras won’t be available under the RTI and will not be supplied to anyone without the permission of the concerned high court.
However, Maru forged the RTI reply using a computer and added text: “We can’t give the names of all the employees of Nazar branch because on Sep 21, 2022, ten employees of Nazar branch molested Labhuben Nanakdas Maru (the convict) that’s why she is asking for the proof. We had called all the employees of the branch and they admit their mistake and apologized. We accepted that apology.”
Maru submitted the forged document to the RTI appellate authority in the district court, presenting it as an authentic document and sought details of the CCTV footage.
During the hearing, when the information officer compared the RTI reply submitted by Maru and the court PIO, it was revealed that the document was tampered with. Following this, the district court’s information officer directed the court registrar to file a forgery complaint against Maru with the Pradhuman Nagar police station under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). On Dec 15, 2022, police filed an FIR against Maru and booked her.
During the court trial, evidence emerged that Maru had a history of filing police complaints against various individuals and subsequently collecting substantial compensation.
Assistant public prosecutor R N Gosai stated, “The court in its order noted that the evidence revealed Maru had forged the document and used it as genuine to harm the prestige of the complainant and witnesses of this case.”
Maru was convicted under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 465, 467, 469, and 484 and sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment besides imposing a fine of Rs 10,000.
Chief judicial magistrate Neha Tanmay Kariya, who presided over the case, on July 26, acquitted Maru’s son, Ashish Parmar, who was a co-accused in the case. Legal aid defence counsel Ajay Tolani said Ashish was acquitted as no offence against him was proven during the trial.
According to the prosecution, Maru had submitted an RTI application requesting CCTV footage of Sep 21, 2022, from the court of additional district judge J D Suthar. She also sought personal details of the employees in the court’s Nazar branch, including their names, addresses, and phone numbers.
The application was rejected by the court PIO on the grounds that Maru had sought personal information which violated a Supreme Court order. As per the SC order, footage of CCTV cameras won’t be available under the RTI and will not be supplied to anyone without the permission of the concerned high court.
However, Maru forged the RTI reply using a computer and added text: “We can’t give the names of all the employees of Nazar branch because on Sep 21, 2022, ten employees of Nazar branch molested Labhuben Nanakdas Maru (the convict) that’s why she is asking for the proof. We had called all the employees of the branch and they admit their mistake and apologized. We accepted that apology.”
Maru submitted the forged document to the RTI appellate authority in the district court, presenting it as an authentic document and sought details of the CCTV footage.
During the hearing, when the information officer compared the RTI reply submitted by Maru and the court PIO, it was revealed that the document was tampered with. Following this, the district court’s information officer directed the court registrar to file a forgery complaint against Maru with the Pradhuman Nagar police station under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). On Dec 15, 2022, police filed an FIR against Maru and booked her.
During the court trial, evidence emerged that Maru had a history of filing police complaints against various individuals and subsequently collecting substantial compensation.
Assistant public prosecutor R N Gosai stated, “The court in its order noted that the evidence revealed Maru had forged the document and used it as genuine to harm the prestige of the complainant and witnesses of this case.”
Maru was convicted under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 465, 467, 469, and 484 and sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment besides imposing a fine of Rs 10,000.
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