The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) does not have any details of war criminals, terrorists and anti-nationals. There is also no proper definition of “sedition” and the details of the persons charged with it.
This revelation has come through a Right to Information (RTI) reply. While the Ministry appeared to be evading a clear cut reply, other agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) were not forthcoming in providing an answer.
Petitioner Gopal Prasad wanted to know from the MHA the details of “war criminals”, “terrorists”, “anti-nationals”, in custody or outside. He also sought to know the definition of “sedition” and the number of persons arrested and charged with sedition from 1950 to 2016.
Prasad also wanted to know from the Ministry whether slogan shouting against the country came under the definition of “sedition”. He also sought the list of those criminals against whom Red Corner Notices (RCN) have been issued.
In its reply, the MHA (Internal Security Division-I) said it does not have any information regarding the arrested “war criminals”, “terrorists” and those charged with “sedition”.
With regard to queries related to “sedition”, the MHA said the Ministry does not keep these records since law and order is a state subject.
Regarding terror-related cases, it said such cases are being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and state police. The Ministry forwarded the petition to NIA and suggested the petitioner to approach state police for details of cases being handled by them.
As regards RCN cases, the Ministry transferred the application to the CBI, for being the “nodal agency in the matter”. With regard to queries related to “sedition”, it said the Ministry does not keep these records since law and order is a state subject.
On the question regarding the definition of “sedition”, the Ministry forwarded the application to Director CFT (Combating Financing of Terrorism), a cell created by the Ministry. It only mentioned that the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) compiles the records related to crimes in India.
The CBI, on its part, maintained that such RTI requests seeking information about criminals, terrorists, traitors/anti-nationalist and Red Corner Notice “are not entertained by this office and unable to provide the information of criminals against whom Red Corner Notices have been issued”.
In response to the petition, the NIA said it does not have any record of war criminals.
According to the petitioner, it is shocking that the government is not passing on the information about terrorists or war criminals or anti-nationals.
“Unless the government publicises their names, how would the common man know about them? They may be living in our locality, but we may not know because of lack of awareness. The recent Lucknow incident is a case in point. If a person has been declared a terrorist, it’s the duty of the government to let the entire country know about him so that they can remain alert,” he said.