The Calcutta High Court on Thursday asked why papers and documents pertaining to the mysterious disappearance of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose have not been disclosed even 67 years since India’s independence.
Acting on a PIL filed by India’s Smile, a Division Bench of Ashim Kumar Banerjee and Shibakanta Prasad ordered the Centre to answer within two weeks on why it was yet to act on the orders of the Central Information Commission (CIC).
“The CIC in July 2007 had ordered the Union of India to hand over all papers and documents pertaining to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose to the National Archives of India. However, the Centre is yet to act according to the order,” India’s Smile counsel Krishnendu Bhattacharya told The Hindu .
Although the Prime Minister’s Office had said the files pertaining to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose were exempt from disclosure under Section 8(1) (A) and Section 8(2) of the Right to Information Act, the Calcutta High Court’s order asking the Centre to respond within two weeks, acts as an acceptance of the CIC’s decision, Mr. Bhattacharya said.
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose had escaped from his residence in Kolkata while under house arrest by the British, to seek international help for India’s struggle for independence. He is believed to have died in an air crash in 1945.
‘The CIC in 2007 ordered the Union
of India to hand over documents pertaining to Subhash Chandra Bose to National Archives of India’
