CHANDIGARH: After exposing many a political scam, the Right to Information Act (RTI) is now striking terror in the hearts of Haryana policemen as it is being used by their wives to keep tabs on them.
In the past seven months, the Panipat police have received 125 such queries, of the total 1,075 RTI applications received, wherein wives of policemen want to know the salaries of their husbands, their designations, how many days off are they entitled to and how many leaves they have taken, their working hours and the duties their jobs entail.
Police sources say such queries could be due to the fact that in many cases, the husbands lie about their pay packages. The other reason is that as it is hard to get leave in the service due to wide range of duties, policemen are not able to spend enough time with their families. At times, cops take leave to go out with their friends and tell their families they are on duty.
Some 60 applications are from people who want information about the salary, rank, and other details of their prospective sons-in-law. Another 350 applications relate to domestic disputes between the husband and wife with either asking for information about their spouse from the department. The information sought includes attested copies of their statements before the police in dowry-related cases, said sources. Such queries have been received by police departments in other districts as well.
“The anti-prohibition movement launched by women forced the state government to implement it. Now matrimonial discords are on the rise as women feel husbands are not doing enough for their welfare. They have found RTI as another weapon to get empowered and confront their spouses,’’ said Parmod Kumar, of Institute for Development and Communication.