|
Anuj Dhar
Yet another landmark RTI case, if you believe. It was first such instance where a foreign government contacted by the Government of India while handling an RTI query. We sought correspondence between India and the USSR and Russia over the fate of Subhas Chandra Bose. It was not given to us. At the end, former Information Commissioner and prominent historian Dr O P Kajeriwal forwarded with favourable comments our letter to the Ministry of External Affairs seeking access to Subhas Bose-related records lying in various inaccessible Russian archives—including that of their foreign intelligence service SVR. The Ministry did not respond to that and in their silence one can read a lot. |
| |
It's curtains for the RTI case involving the correspondence between India and Russia over Subhas Bose's disappearance. The Ministry of External Affairs has informed Central Information Commission that the Russians are not for disclosure. The MEA had taken up the matter with the Russians for the second time following a CIC directive in August. |
| |
Writing to Information Commissioner Dr OP Kejariwal, AK Nag, Central Public Information Officer (MEA), has stated that the Indian embassy in Moscow again "approached the Government of Russian Federation to get their consent to the disclosure of documents". "But the Government of Russian Federation reiterated that documents were submitted exclusively for official use by the Government of India." |
| |
Curiously, the focal of the request - correspondence between India & USSR/Russia - appears to have been put aside. |
| |
Kejariwal had noted in August that the Central Information Commission was "all for disclosure of this material" and directed the MEA "to seek a formal clearance from the Russian Authorities in the matter". |
| |
The Russian Government, however, has made an offer, unrelated to the correspondence, that Russian archives can be approached "through the Embassy of India" over Netaji related records. |
| |
Background to the case |
| |
