Delhi High Court
– Photo: File photo
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The Delhi High Court has rejected the plea of death row convict Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddiqui in the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts case seeking information under the RTI Act about the officers who investigated the case and his arrest. Was approved.
Petitioner Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddiqui was awarded death sentence by a special court under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) in October 2015 for his involvement in the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts. He is currently lodged in Nagpur Central Jail.
Justice Subramaniam Prasad said that the information sought by the petitioner is of personal nature. The information sought by the petitioner is against the officers who were involved in the investigation and who were also involved in sanctioning the prosecution relating to the arrest and conviction of the petitioner. The information is of such a nature that, if given to the petitioner, these officers may be in serious danger.
The court said that the incident for which the petitioner has been awarded death sentence took place in the year 2006. Admittedly, 20 years have not elapsed since the date of incident and hence in any case, in the facts of the present case, the benefit of Section 8(3) of the RTI Act is not available to the petitioner. Even assuming that 20 years have passed, the right to privacy for these officers in such cases, who may be put at grave risk, cannot be given to an accused and that too when the accused has been convicted Has been arrested and sentenced to death. The bench said that the petitioner has not made out any case to show what public interest would be served by providing any such information sought by him.
