Dharam Prakash Thakur
In a historic judgment, Madhya Pradesh State Information Commissioner Rahul Singh rules that Medico-legal and medical reports in criminal cases cannot be refused under the RTI Act.
Singh said unlike standard medical cases, they are not prepared at the instance of the patient but are legal requirements hence disclosure will help serve justice.
Singh said, “Medico-legal cases (MLCs) and medical reports are indeed legal requirements in criminal cases and not prepared at the instance of the patient but to record injuries inflicted on a person, to be used by courts in criminal proceedings and hence are not held in a fiduciary relationship with the patient and that refusal of such information under Section 8(1)(J) of RTI Act is unsustainable.”
In this case, husband had sought a sonography report of his wife but the PIO, Chief Medical Officer had denied the info on the grounds of personal info under section 8 (1) (J). Singh said that the PIO overlooked the proviso of section 8 (1) (J) which says that info that can not be denied to the Parliament & state legislature shall not be denied to any person. When confronted by Singh, the Chief Medical Officer admitted that he can not deny the information to State Legislature.
