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R. K. Singh (Business)     23 September 2018

Action against false personation

Dear Esteemed Members,

Someone impersonated as the spouse of government employee and file RTI Application seeking personal information of a Govt. employee. The online RTI portal does not ask for identity proof and marriage certificate in case the applicant is applying for information as a spouse. There have been several judgements of Central Information Commission where information of individual government employee has been provided to spouse in RTI law only because the applicant is a "spouse" of such individual employee.  Due to such legal precedence the chances of getting information increase several times due to impersonation as wife of govt employee.

1. What are the possible action which can be taken against such person who falsely personates as spouse to get information in RTI.

2. What evidence would be required in this case to prove false personation and to prove who has done false personation because in the online RTI Application such applicant writes the name of the spouse and not his actual name.

3. Whether such an act of imppersonation as wife before the Public Information Officer (RTI Act) will be punishable under section 415, 416, 417 of the IPC?

4.Can such act by a third party and personating as another person to get the information under the RTI act will also come under the purview of forgery?

5. Will it also attract IPC 420?

6. If any criminal case gets attracted then how the same can be proceeded with - how the same can be filed - as the Public Information Officer- PIO may not be very interested in doing so as it was the information of another person which was at risk so PIO may not be bothered. 

Thanks & Regards



Learning

 2 Replies

Raj Kumar Makkad (Adv P & H High Court Chandigarh)     23 September 2018

1. Police case. 2. Online application form, action taken by APIO, the mail id from which the said application was sent, iP address and MAC address of sender to be detected. 3. Yes including section 419 & 420 IPC. 4. It depends. 5. Yes. 6. PIO is not required to be the complainant. If you are sufferer, move ahead and rest leave upon IO. Cyber cell of police deals with such matters.

G.L.N. Prasad (Retired employee.)     24 September 2018

Even in case of spouse, generally Public Information Officer should seek comments of a third party under Sec.11 (1) and PIO must "keep the objections in his view while taking a decision about disclosure of information.

You can not gain any thing by filing such case.  You may issue a Registered notice to PIO complaining him about such "impersonation" and request him to take action by filing complaint through Police  against the culprit after investigation.

 

 


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