It Is A Human Right Of Person Accused Of Sexual Harassment To Get Info To Defend Himself, Says CIC; Penalises “Penny-wise” CPIO [Read Order]

The Central Information Commission (CIC) has held that it is the human right of a person accused of sexual harassment in his capacity as a citizen and accused under the RTI Act and under the principles of criminal justice, to get all the related information to defend himself in a penal proceedings while imposing a penalty of Rs 25,000 on a Public Information Officer for denying the information to an officer accused of sexual harassment at workplace and recommended disciplinary enquiry be conducted against him.CIC Madabhushi Sridhar Acharyulu also criticised the CPIO for demanding Rs. 6 for three pages supplied to the appellant by writing a letter, as the CIC said, “The RTI Rules say the CPIO can collect the copying fee at Rs 2 per page but did not authorize him to demand Rs 2 by spending more than that. This reflects at least, the harassing nature of the CPIO, which is surely a sign of malice. The problem of CPIO is the mindset and attitude. It is part of malice.”“It is the human right of the appellant in his capacity as a citizen and accused under RTI Act and under the principles of criminal justice, to all the related information to defend himself in penal proceedings. The expression ‘human rights’ is defined in Section 2(d) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. “human rights” means the rights relating to life liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed by the Constitution or embodied in the International Covenants and enforceable by courts in India,” said Acharyulu.“There are, in fact, two human rights—one, right to defend himself in penal proceedings and second, right to information to prepare for that defence. These two human rights are founded on a) principles of natural justice and due process, b) principles of criminal justice, c) the provisions of SHW Act of 2013, d) the provisions of RTI Act 2005,” he added.The CIC was hearing an appeal moved by an officer facing an inquiry on a complaint of alleged sexual harassment. He had sought information on 15 points, including copies of Statements of the named individuals obtained by the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) during the preliminary inquiry and copies of correspondences between an official and the president of the ICC.While the CPIO denied him the information, three documents were given to the appellant which included a copy of the order by which ICC, Mandsaur, was formed, a copy of order by which a particular member of ICC was placed on superannuation list and a copy of his retirement charge report.The CPIO also wrote to the appellant to pay Rs. 6 for a page.To the CIC’s surprise, the appellant was denied the other information by the CPIO citing Section 16 of the Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act, 2013 which is prohibition of publication of information to and by the media about the identity and addresses of aggrieved woman, respondent and witnesses during the conciliation and inquiry proceedings, and action taken etc.The CIC noted that “the provision does not mean that information could be denied to respondent-accused. Hence denial of information sought by the appellant is in clear breach of all above provisions of SHW Act of 2013”.The CPIO also invoked exemption clauses 8(1)(d) and (g) of RTI Act to deny the appellant the information, which the CIC said, should have been given as per principles of natural justice, rules of disciplinary inquiry, Act of 2013, Rules made thereunder, official handbook of the Ministry containing guidelines for prevention of Sexual Harassment. The CPIO used exemption clauses under the RTI Act also.Section 8(1)(d) of RTI Act says; information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information.Section 8(1)(g) says: information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes.The first appellate authority also upheld the denial of information.The appellant moved the CIC saying as a charge-sheeted accused before ICC, the principles of natural justice demand that certified copies of all documents relating to the inquiry report, including copies of the statements of witnesses, should be given to him to facilitate him to substantiate his defence and for the conduct of the inquiry in a fair manner.How are statement of witnesses a trade secret?The CIC observed, “The CPIO neither explained nor justified how these clauses could be invoked in this case. He has not applied his mind at all. How the statement of witnesses and other documents relating to sexual harassment complaint could be considered as ‘trade secret’, ‘commercial confidence’ or ‘intellectual property’ of the third party or public authority? This is absolute absurdity.“The appellant...

It Is A Human Right Of Person Accused Of Sexual Harassment To Get Info To Defend Himself, Says CIC; Penalises “Penny-wise” CPIO [Read Order]

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