Is an illiterate person supposed to know and follow the law?
18 Jun, 2013An application was filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking the answer to the question whether the principle of the Indian legal system that ignorance of law does not save one from liability could be applied to an illiterate person. The query also sought to know if any programme has ever been broadcast on radio or television explaining to common people the laws of the country.
The reply, provided by the public information officer of the Ministry of Law, stated that the applicant hadn’t sought any specific information relating to the legislative department. The reply also pointed that under Section 2(f) “information” means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force; “information” means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force; of the RTI Act, information can be sought only by pinpointing the file, documents, record, etc. or by mentioning the type of information.
The dissatisfied applicant then approached the Central Information Commission, which upheld the decision of the PIO, stating that the information sought by the appellant did not fall under the definition of information as mentioned in Section 2(f) “information” means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force; “information” means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force; of the RTI Act.
While the CIC ruling may not be faulted technically, it does raise the question how the countrymen (and women) are supposed to follow the rule of the land with little awareness of the laws. Even amongst the educated, there is hardly any awareness of the plethora of laws which the citizens are expected to follow.