The RTI Act mandates a public authority to furnish information sought by applicants within 48 hours, and not 30 days, if the matter pertains to their life and liberty.
"Information sought by the appellant/complainant of sexual harassment relating to inquiry report etc has to be classified as information related to life and liberty, because both of these rights are threatened by sexual harassment," Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu has held.
Through her RTI application filed last year, the woman had sought to know about the status of a fact-finding committee constituted in connection with her case and its findings among other details.
The information was denied to her saying the inquiry was going on and citing a provision of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.
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"If a third person wants to know the detailed information about sexual harassment, this provision could be used to deny it. But it cannot be denied to the complainant," Acharyulu said.
The Information Commissioner said it was a "deliberate" misreading of the provision of the law to harass the complainant and deny her the right to information about action taken on her own complaint.
He noted that merely because the process of investigation or prosecution of offenders is continuing, the bar stipulated under Section 8(1)(h) of the RTI Act cannot be invoked.
Section 8(1)(h) of the RTI Act exempts disclosure of such information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders.
"The respondent authority did not raise this point and did nothing to explain to the commission about possible reasons as to how the disclosure would be impeding apprehension or prosecution of the accused," he said.
The commissioner said that "threat to dignity of women at the workplace" is nothing less than a threat to her life and liberty in view of the seriousness of mental or physical harassment she undergoes.
Acharyulu said the complainant was deprived of her right to information which was guaranteed to her under two laws i.E. the Right to Information Act and the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.
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