Right to Life And Liberty Clause

[destined2doom]

Dear All,
Outline: I am a 27 years old engineer based in Bangalore and my wife is a German citizen. We got married in Bangalore under Special Marriage Act and thereafter get my Marriage Certificate
Attested as per Hague Convention and modified my passport to include my spouse name. Now my wife is in Hamburg and trying to get an entry visa. The Indian Consulate at Hamburg had directed
Us to contact Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi, where I gave a representation on behalf of her and was told that MHA will direct the Hamburg embassy to give visa to my wife and son.
But since then several days have elapsed and nothing has moved.


In this circumstance, I am planning to send RTI requests to Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of External Affairs asking them the status of my wife and son's visa.


Now, I was thinking that whether I can seek information under right to life and liberty clause as I think right to live a family life with wife and son has been implicitly given to Indian Citizens under Article 21 of Indian Constitution.
But during my online research I found that there are instances in which authorities interpret the Life and Liberty in true meaning of the word..Like Life means to them your biological life...and going by their line of reasoning "my life is not under any imminent danger due to forceful separation from my family by the Indian Government"..But then judiciary has extended Article 21 in some landmark cases...


So, in this case I seek help from the members to tell me whether my right to live a family life comes under Right To Life and Liberty clause?


Regards
http://asubject.wordpress.com

[karira]

destined2doom,

I do not think that you can apply the 48 hour response clause related to "Life and Liberty" in this case.

After she gets a visa , best solution is to get her a PIO card (she can apply for that while she is in Germany or even after she comes into India on a valid visa). For details refer to: Bureau of Immigration, India - Home Page and the section on PIO card. Point 3 says:

3. He/She is a spouse of a citizen of India or a person of Indian origin covered under 1 & 2 above.

PIO cards are valid for 20 years and she will not have to apply for a Visa every time she comes to India NOR will she have to go through the Police reporting procedure. PIO card also gives her same rights as a Indian Citizen, except Political Rights.

[ganpat1956]

The purport of Sec.7.1 of the RTI Act is to provide for obtaining an emergency response (as against the normal time limit of 30 days) where the life and liberty of a person are in imminent danger of being curtailed. Therefore the onus rests on the applicant to prove that without the information being made available in 48 hours, there is a serious threat to his life and liberty.

No doubt the Art.21 enshrines the right to life and personal liberty. The expressions “right to life and personal liberty” are compendious terms, which include within themselves variety of rights and attributes. Some of them are also found in Article 19 and thus have two sources at the same time.

The term "liberty" has been debated widely to connote an expanded meaning. It has been argued that "the expression cannot be limited to mere absence of bodily restraint. It is wide enough to expand to full range of rights including right to hold a particular opinion and right to sustain and nurture that opinion. For sustaining and nurturing that opinion it becomes necessary to receive information. Article 21 confers on all persons a right to know which include a right to receive information". As a result of this liberal interpretation of the term liberty, we have with us today the RTI Act.

But for the purpose of invoking the emergency provision U/s 7.1, unless you are able to prove that there is an imminent danger or threat to sustain your liberal interpretation of the term liberty, it is better to seek the info under the normal channel.

[destined2doom]

Yeah thanx a lot for the suggestions..I shall go with the normal approach
Regards

[nile0611]

destined2doom
Why dont you put 2 different application one under normal approach and second in life and liberty clause. You have to hardly spent 10 Rs more. You never know you might even get reply within 48 hrs.

[maneesh]

Excellent reply Karira and Ganpatji,

[wagh7]

Originally Posted by nile0611

destined2doom
Why dont you put 2 different application one under normal approach and second in life and liberty clause. You have to hardly spent 10 Rs more. You never know you might even get reply within 48 hrs.

Nile0611 sir,

If you file two seperate application like that with same points, it means that you yourself agreeing that it is not a life and libery case.

I think one should be careful and clear about their stand before submitting application.

rakatkam.

[karira]

As per the CIC website, Mr Ramesh Bhandoola made an application to CIC regarding various points about the "Life and Liberty clause":

a) Time Frame for disposal of such cases
b) No. of complaints/appeals received by CIC under this clause
c) Actual time taken by CIC to dispose off such cases
etc
etc
etc

However the decision posted on the CIC website does not give all details of the reply etc...because the applicant withdrew his complaint citing that all details had been now provided to him.

Full decision can be read at:

http://cic.gov.in/CIC-Orders/Decision_20022008_03.pdf

[karira]

Another applicant asked CIC for the same details as per the application mentioned in the above post.

Matter went up to First Appeal in CIC.

Strangely, the FAA of CIC ruled that the PIO was correct and that no such information is maintained by the CIC regarding data about "life and liberty" cases.

So which reply of CIC is correct ?

This one or the reply to the previous application ?

Full decision of the FAA can be seen at:

http://cic.gov.in/CIC-Orders/FAAD_24032008_01.pdf