Times of India: Lucknow: Saturday, 31 January 2026.
In a bizarre case of marital dispute, a woman from Basti has filed an application under the RTI Act to know whether she, as the legally wedded wife of the man whom she claimed to be her husband, was still living with him in his house. She also wanted to know what information the gram pradhan had about the status of her marriage with the man in question.
The woman asked the Public
Information Officer (PIO) if he was aware that the man in question had kept
another woman in his house as his wife without legally calling off his marriage
with her (the applicant).
The bench headed by State Information Commissioner (SIC) Mohammad Nadeem, however, ruled that RTI cannot be used to investigate private marital relations.
The case dates back to July 2023, when Amita (name changed) sought information from the Block Development Officer (BDO), who was also the PIO, of Bankati development block in Basti on four points.
Her first two queries were answered by the PIO. They were about the development done in the village where the man she claimed to be her husband lived, and details of the man's family members whom he was living with, and his "legal" relation with each one of them.
In the rest of her queries, she wanted to know if the man's legally wedded wife, whom she claimed was her, was still living with him, and if not, then who the other woman living with him was, and if the man kept the other woman as his wife without divorcing his "legal" wife. She also sought details of children born to the other woman.
Both pieces of information were denied by the PIO on the ground that "no such information is held in the records of the gram panchayat".
However, the applicant filed an appeal before the SIC seeking information. The Commission upheld the answer of the PIO and clarified, "The RTI Act is a tool for transparency, not a social register of personal relationships between men and women."
In a bizarre case of marital dispute, a woman from Basti has filed an application under the RTI Act to know whether she, as the legally wedded wife of the man whom she claimed to be her husband, was still living with him in his house. She also wanted to know what information the gram pradhan had about the status of her marriage with the man in question.
The bench headed by State Information Commissioner (SIC) Mohammad Nadeem, however, ruled that RTI cannot be used to investigate private marital relations.
The case dates back to July 2023, when Amita (name changed) sought information from the Block Development Officer (BDO), who was also the PIO, of Bankati development block in Basti on four points.
Her first two queries were answered by the PIO. They were about the development done in the village where the man she claimed to be her husband lived, and details of the man's family members whom he was living with, and his "legal" relation with each one of them.
In the rest of her queries, she wanted to know if the man's legally wedded wife, whom she claimed was her, was still living with him, and if not, then who the other woman living with him was, and if the man kept the other woman as his wife without divorcing his "legal" wife. She also sought details of children born to the other woman.
Both pieces of information were denied by the PIO on the ground that "no such information is held in the records of the gram panchayat".
However, the applicant filed an appeal before the SIC seeking information. The Commission upheld the answer of the PIO and clarified, "The RTI Act is a tool for transparency, not a social register of personal relationships between men and women."
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