By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
New Delhi: Isn’t it surprising that while National Human Rights Commission last month released the autopsy reports of those killed in the Batla House encounter, the Delhi Police – whose Special Cell had carried out the encounter – has not been willing to release the report for about one and half years citing ongoing investigation, and still unwilling? Central Information Commission conducted a hearing today on an old RTI petition seeking autopsy report from the Delhi Police.
Despite the report released by NHRC to RTI activist Afroz Alam Sahil on March 16, 2010 has already hit national headlines and reached into public domain, the Delhi Police still argue that the publication of the report will hamper investigation. The police also cite an old order of Delhi High Court accepting their appeal against the petition for publication of the report.
At today’s CIC hearing, presumably the last on the September 25, 2008 RTI petition seeking the report, the police presented their same arguments and CIC agreed to them. Petitioner Sahil also attended today’s hearing.
The attitude of the police in this case may lead one to think: If there is some more revealing autopsy report of the Batla House victims which the Delhi Police do not want to release. Though the report released by NHRC has already exposed loopholes in the police version of the encounter.
Sahil had filed the petition with the Delhi Police on September 25, 2008. He did not get any response from the police. He filed first appeal on October 29, 2008 and two days later he got a reply wherein he was told about the number of people killed in the shootout and that the FIR was filed on that day. He was not provided any other information nor any document.
Sahil filed second appeal with CIC on January 27, 2009. The hearing on this appeal should have been held within 90 days according to RTI law but the CIC itself took more than one year to conduct the hearing which took place on February 9.
But the activist was kept in dark for more than a month about what transpired in that hearing. In the last week of March he got a letter from CIC informing him about the next hearing on March 30. He attended it but the CIC fixed April 7 to hear on the issue of autopsy.