Meerut: In addition to seeking government
documents and data, the Right To Information (RTI) Act is also
being used for altogether a different purpose -- to know
whether a prospective groom has any criminal record.
In a somewhat novel use of the RTI Act, brides`
parents have started filing applications to verify whether
their would-be son-in-law figures in police records in any
criminal case.
This increasing trend is reflected in the
number of such RTI applications, addressed to the Meerut
police, as they have received around 400 queries till now.
"So far, we have received around 400 RTI applications
from the parents of the brides. We have been regularly
replying to these queries and so far 300 of them have been
answered. The increasing number of these applications has
started putting extra work pressure on the police," Meerut SP
(City) P P Singh said.
This not only prevents grooms from hiding their
criminal past record but also help the family of brides to
decide whether to proceed with the marriage proposal,
depending upon the credentials of the groom revealed under the
Act.
According to RTI activist Sandeep Pehal, "Initially,
people were not aware of the RTI Act. However, more and more
citizens have started using it thanks to the awareness
generated by media.
Through RTI people are able to know beforehand whether
the groom has any criminal record instead of realising it at a
later stage," he said.
PTI
