Mumbai: Dharavi Police have refused to provide the family of 17-year-old Sachin Jaiswar, a Dharavi resident, who died in Sion Hospital in July 2018 under suspicious circumstances, with CCTV footage from Dharavi police station for July 12, 2018. The family had filed a Right To Information (RTI) plea seeking this footage in November 2018.In reply to the RTI, Dharavi Police have refused to give any details, saying doing so would be against the Right to Information Act, 2005.
However, activists claim,“They cannot deny giving the details as this would be a violation of the RTI act and a punishable offence.” Ravindra Jaiswar, Sachin’s father said they had knocked the doors of the Bombay High Court for justice as police did not help them get justice. They decided to file an RTI to know what had happened on July 12, 2018 when police had detained Sachin in a mobile theft case.
“We had asked for the CCTV footage of Dharavi police station from 8pm on July 12, 2018 to 11pm the following day. We had also asked for the station house diary entries and correspondence concerning the detention of Sachin. But police have refused to provide us with these details,” Jaiswar said. Responding to the RTI query, the station cited Section 8(1)(H) of the RTI Act 2005, which exempts information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders.
“Why they are scared to give us the footage if they have not done anything wrong? Such acts of the police department shows they don’t want to give us the information as it would reveal the truth of what they did to my son,” he said.Under the RTI Act, Indian citizens can seek information which may be in the form of CCTV footage, from any government body. Police stations come under the umbrella of a public authority and cannot refuse to provide CCTV footage. “Refusing details related to an RTI query is construed as a violation of the RTI act. Providing CCTV footage does not mean hampering any investigation. It is evidence which can be used in the investigation, so usage of Section 8 is pointless,” said RTI activist Anil Galgali.Dharavi Police, meanwhile, have denied allegations of custodial torture.
“The post-mortem report certifies his death was not due to torture but due to leptospirosis and pneumonia. The family did demand we register a case but as per procedure, we cannot book our own officers, due to which the inquiry was handed over to Crime Branch Unit V. We have submitted all the necessary documents to them,” said Inspector Kailash Bondre, Dharavi police station.
