New Delhi: Did Army conduct any inquiry
against a woman TV reporter whose coverage of 1999 Kargil war
allegedly compromised safety of troops?
The Central Information Commission has directed the Army
to disclose if any such inquiry ever took place as per records
and disclose the information as per provisions of the RTI Act.
The case relates to activist S C Agrawal who sought to
know from the Army if "some extra casualties in Indian Army
occurred at war-site during Indo-Pak Kargil-war in/around the
year 1999 because of a defiant move of a TV reporter who
insisted on using a flash-light for the TV coverage in the
night resulting in guiding Pakistani Army for the exact
location to be bombed?"
He also asked if any enquiry took place in this regard,
its report and other related details.
The Army has refused to give any details saying "request
amounts to seeking clarifications and investigations and are
based on mere hypothetical assumptions/heresay" and is not an
"information" defined under the RTI Act.
Information Commissioner M L Sharma agreed with this
point of view and asked Agrawal to make the queries specific.
Agrawal then limited it to three questions: Was an enquiry
ordered in the incident? If yes, copy of report of the
enquiry-committee, if any and name of the concerned TV
reporter and the TV channel associated with the coverage.
After this the Commissioner ordered the application sent
back to the Army to revisit the case on the basis of pruned
application and "disclose information as per provisions of the
RTI Act".
PTI
