No legal obligation to chant 'Bharat mata ki jai'

The Law Ministry has said it has no record spelling out the legal action which can be taken against those forcing a citizen to chant "Bharat mata ki jai".

The case pertains to one RTI applicant Mohammed Irfan Quadri who had sought to know from the ministry whether there is any legal obligation of a citizen to chant "Bharat mata ki jai" and whether a citizen can take legal action against those forcing him to chant this slogan among others.

"The respondent (Law Ministry) referred to the CPIO's reply dated April 19, 2016 and stated that they have informed the appellant that 'information sought by him construes neither any material information defined under Section 2(f) of the RTI Act, 2005 nor part of any record as defined under clause (i) of Section 2 of the RTI Act," Chief Information Commissioner R K Mathur said.

Mathur, however, refused to intervene in the matter, saying the response of the ministry was satisfactory.