Batla House shootout: Petitioner seeks copy of post-mortem report

.....

Challenging the single bench order that gave partial relief, allowing giving of the copy of the first information report (FIR), advocate Prashant Bhushan in his plea demanded that under the Right to Information Act (RTI) all information, including a copy of the post-mortem report, should be given.

A division bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Mukta Gupta transferred the case to other bench and slated it for further hearing on Feb 16.

Earlier the single bench of the high court had upheld the Central Information Commission (CIC) order of giving only the copy of the FIR.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna had then said: "Police have not been able to give any specific reason how and why disclosure of the FIR, even when the name of the informant is erased, would impede the process of investigation, apprehension of offenders or prosecution of offenders."

The court order came on a police petition, which challenged the Central Information Commissioner (CIC) directive to disclose the contents of FIR and post-mortem examination reports of the two suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorists and police Inspector M.C. Sharma, killed in the shootout.

However, the court agreed with police's contention that making the post-mortem examination report public would hamper the ongoing investigation in Sep 13, 2008, serial blasts in the national capital. The present petition challenges the same.