The first appellate authority in Yerawada Central Prison which heard the RTI plea of A.G. Perarivalan, life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, on Monday rejected the plea again.
K. Sivakumar, Perarivalan’s counsel said, “The decisions taken by the Central and State governments on the release of Sanjay Dutt are crucial for Perarivalan who is also seeking premature release. While rejecting the appeal, the first appellate authority did not give any written order. We have decided to challenge the dismissal of the appeal before the Maharashtra State Information Commission.”
Venkatesh Nayak, programme coordinator, Access to Information Programme, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, said files relating to premature release were clearly public documents as understood under the Indian Evidence Act and could not be given the cover of third- party confidentiality. “The decision of the first appellate authority seems to be geared to prevent the applicant from accessing information that could be beneficial to him in his case…this is not correct in law.”
Dutt, convicted under the Arms Act in the 1993 Mumbai blasts, walked free from Yerawada jail on February 27, more than three months before the end of his term, on account of “good conduct”.
