KL News Network
SRINAGAR
Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that the defence ministry should reveal the findings of the court martial in Pathribal and the Machil fake encounters. It has rejected the idea of invoking Section 8(1)(h) to deny the same information as was demand by Venkatesh Nayak under Right to Information Act.
The decision was announced by Information Commissioner Divya Prakash Sinha on November 9, 2016.
The Commission has directed the CPIO to provide all available and relevant information with regard to the twin fake encounters within 15 days.
“There are no tenable grounds for invoking Section 8(1)(h) for query Nos 1 to 4 of the RTI Application,” the order reads. “CPIO has clarified during the hearing that no investigation is pending and that Section 8(1)(h) was invoked with respect to the pendency of prosecution confirmation. Commission also takes into consideration the submissions of the Appellant as well as the case laws referred by him. In the absence of any plausible justification for invoking the exemption of Section 8(1)(h), Commission finds it inappropriate on the part of the CPIO to have denied the information. The reliance of the Appellant on the above referred case laws is well placed and upon a conjoint reading of the above referred ratio-decidendi of the Hon’ble Delhi High Court, Commission concurs with the same.”
With this order, Venkatesh’s legal battle to get the information has almost concluded, though the actual information is yet not handed over.
It started on January 27, 2015 when Venkatesh moved an application under RTI seeking response to following five queries.
- A clear photocopy of the entire text of the findings of the Court Martial in relation to the conviction of five Army Personnel for the killings committed at Macchil, Jammu and Kashmir in the year 2010 as reported in the attached news clipping;
- A clear photocopy of the chargesheet filed before the said Court Martial in relation to the case mentioned above at para #1 along with Annexures, if any;
- A clear photocopy of the sentence awarded to the convicted Army Personnel by the said Court Martial;
- A clear photocopy of the communication along with Annexures, if any, sent to the concerned confirming officer/confirming authority in relation to the said case as per the relevant Rules under the Indian Army Rules, 1954;
- A clear photocopy of all proceedings of the Court of Inquiry which enquired into the matter pertaining to the killing of five persons in Pathribal, Anantnag district, Jammu and Kashmir in the year 2000.”
In his response, the PIO on March 11, 2015 denied the information. “Information sought is exempted from disclosure under Section 8(1)(h) of RTI Act 2005.
Venketesh filed the first appeal on April 22, 2015. The response came on June 19, 2015 upholding the CPIO decision.
He moved the second appeal on September 26, 2015. It decision came more than a year after but supported the plea.
Pathribal encounter in which five civilians were killed took place in wake of Chatisinghpora massacre in 2000. It involved a long legal battle that eventually did not offer any kind of justice. In Machil encounter that was key to 2010 unrest, the army has punished five soldiers but has not disclosed details of its findings.
