Policies/Regulation

The Bombay high court has held that a police manual is a public document, and upheld a chief information commissioner’s order that it be uploaded on the state police website. An activist had applied under the Right to Information Act (RTI) for copies of the police manual in English and Marathi from the public information officer of the state director general of police’s office.

He also wanted true copies of the information regarding the proposal, dated July 26, 2006, submitted by the ATS assistant commissioner of police, along with investigation papers before additional DGP Sanjeev Dayal in a MCOCA case. The officer rejected his plea as did an appellate authority citing exemption under the RTI Act that bars giving information that could endanger an informant or expose his identity. In the second appeal, the chief information commissioner (CIC), however, directed that the manual be uploaded.