A medical officer from Indian Systems of Medicine (ISM) was found guilty by a Srinagar court under Sections 419 and 471 of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) of fraud by posing as someone else and submitting a forged document as authentic while submitting an application for access to information (RTI). The medical officer faces two years in prison and a fine of Rs 50,000.
Regarding the doctor's failure to pay the fine, the court added six months to the doctor's sentence for nonpayment. The accused doctor hailing from Jammu and Kashmir was found guilty on Tuesday by the 2nd Additional Munsiff Ahtzaz Ahmed Court for submitting an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act under a false identity and passing it off as a "genuine" document.
A medical officer was transferred to Udhampur in the Jammu division on October 30, 2013, according to a complaint filed by the then-Director of ISM. The complaint stated that the accused was harassing department personnel by submitting numerous RTI applications, and the reason for the transfer was misconduct. It was stated that the defendant was assuming aliases in order to evade the departmental investigation and exert pressure on department officials.
The Director added that Muzaffar Anwar Ganie, the son of Dr. Tantray's landlord in Srinagar, filed a series of identically worded RTI applications under different identities, which the ISM department received. Muzaffar Anwar Ganie denied filing the application. After the complaint, the police station in Saddar received a case, and an inquiry was started.
After taking the prosecution's arguments into consideration, the court rendered its decision. As per Kashmir News Service, the prosecution, spearheaded by Advocate John Mohammad, requested the highest sentence, highlighting the offender's repeated criminal history and the impact the crime had on the public. However, M.A. Peerzada, the defense lawyer, argued in favor of a more lenient punishment, pointing out that the accused was getting close to retirement.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Priyanka Pandey)