Times of India:Chennai:Tuesday: September 30, 2025.
Criminal records of a person cannot be withheld under the Right to Information (RTI) Act in the guise of third-party or private information, the state information commission has ruled. Hearing an appeal filed by A Ramesh Manikandan of Perungudi, who said that the public information officer of Greater Chennai Police Commissionerate refused to furnish the details he sought under RTI, chief commissioner Mohammed Shakeel Akhter accepted the appellant's arguments that records of an accused cannot be considered private information.
In 2022, Ramesh Manikandan filed a petition under RTI to the city police commissionerate seeking records of cases against one Rajini alias Real Ma Rajini in city police records. However, he received a reply that the information cannot be sought under RTI since it is of a private person.
He appealed against the response before the appellate authority and received the same reply. Manikandan then approached the state information commission. On Sep 15, the matter came up for hearing, and Adyar police district deputy commissioner Pon Karthik Kumar appeared on behalf of the city police and submitted that replies were duly provided to the applicant in 2022 and 2024. "In the first reply, the PIO stated that five cases were pending against Rajini, so the commission believes that records of such a person cannot be held back citing privacy," the chief commissioner noted.
He directed the Adyar deputy commissioner to furnish the info through speed post within 15 days. The police official was also directed to submit a copy of the details provided along with postal tracking to confirm receipt.
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