Modi govt takes UPA line; won't disclose Netaji Bose files // Selective release of some files to attack Nehru
NB: The Modi government is adept at deceiving the public. On the one hand we have a selective leak about the Nehru government ordering surveillance on Netaji Bose's relatives for 20 years. They wish to slander Nehru and Gandhi at every available opportunity. Yet it still refuses to release the larger records on Bose because the release of this information would not be in the public interest. Really! The Indian public cant be trusted with the contents of a decades-old file! This is exactly what the previous government said - read about it here - DS
New Delhi: Taking the line adopted by the
previous Congress-led UPA government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office has refused to
disclose records related to Subhash Chandra Bose's death as it rejected the
argument that there was a larger public interest involved in making them
public. The Right to Information Act (RTI) allows for a public authority
to disclose records which are otherwise exempt from disclosure if public
interest outweighs the harm protected.
Activist Subhash Agrawal had sought from the Prime
Minister's Office the records related to the freedom fighter and leader of the
Indian National Army to clarify the mystery surrounding his alleged death in a
plane crash 70 years back. Agrawal had also asked for information of the steps taken by
the top office to make such records public and the action taken on requests
seeking such documents.
But toeing the line of the UPA government, the PMO had cited
an exemption clause in the RTI Act which allows withholdnig of information that
could prejudicially affect relations with a foreign country. The PMO, however, did not even give the names of the
countries with which the relations may get affected once the said information
is made public.
When the first appeal was filed before a higher officer in
the top office, the Appellate Authority, Krishan Kumar, had rejected the
argument that public interest would be served through the disclosure of the
documents related to Bose's death. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, while campaigning for
polls, had claimed that there was a larger public interest involved in the
disclosure of the documents, but the PMO under Modi does not seem to be in
agreement.
"It is observed that the disclosure of the records was
withheld under Section 8(1)(a) of RTI Act on the grounds that it would
prejudicially affect relations with foreign countries. "The determination as to whether a particular body of
records has such ramifications has been left to the judgement of the competent
authority authorised to determine the same," Kumar had said.
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