Here's an encounter that the city police are in no mood to encourage. Within days of a Right to Information activist subjected to third degree at a city police station, TOI finds that it wasn't a stray bad experience, with cops pulling out all stops to stay RTI-proof. In fact, police officers in some stations even say they are unaware of the RTI Act and remain most unresponsive when it comes to their responsibilities under the Act. And a telling reality: a significant number of pending cases at the Information Commission pertain to the police department.

From claiming that "there is nothing like RTI" to showing the door to quizzing on the reasons for filing an RTI query, police stations come across well-armed against anybody seeking information under the Act.

On Tuesday, TOI posing as an RTI applicant visited police stations with a simple three-question query: the number of FIRs filed at police stations in the year 2011, the number of cases solved and the number of cases pending. The Cyberabad commissionerate directed the applicant from one official to another, with the third official, an administrative officer, finally reluctantly accepting the application, saying that a "lot of information" had been sought in the query and it would take over a month to put it together.

The Punjagutta police station did not deny giving information. It simply refused to accept the RTI query since the letter was "not in an envelope". In fact, it took time for the concerned Public Information Officer (PIO), the writer (who writes complaints and FIRs) at the station, to decide whether or not to accept the application. He threw a volley of interrogative questions demanding to know the applicant's background, details of professional life and also residence proof etc. The applicant was also advised to show more interest in other police stations and spare Punjagutta. The PIO also demanded to know repeatedly why the applicant was interested in these details and what he intended to do with it. After much persuasion, the PIO insisted that he would accept the application only if it was brought in an envelope. The RTI Act does not mention any such rule.

It was a similar experience at the Begumpet police station where an inspector first tried to physically stop the applicant from entering the premises. The second hurdle was once again the station's PIO (the writer) who bombarded the applicant with questions about background only to advise him in the end to concentrate on social service and stop filing RTIs which is not beneficial to anyone. However, unlike at Punjagutta they accepted the RTI application.

RTI activists corroborate TOI's experience with their own. P Ramakrishna, an RTI activist shared how a colleague had gone to Chandanagar police station on December 4, 2011, to file an RTI query on the number of road accidents in the area. "He was held over and the inspector called me from the station. I was asked rudely about why we needed this information," says Ramakrishna, adding that he recorded that telephone conversation where the inspector was threatening him. While the RTI query was finally accepted, a reply is still awaited.

Another activist, T V Bhaskar of Guntur said that he received threatening calls four months ago following which he informed the collector and district SP and sought protection, which was denied. A government circular released in 2010 states that any RTI activist seeking protection should be provided the same.

Known RTI activist C J Karira said that the home department was the most RTI-unfriendly. He said as per the Act, every police station should have a board outside giving details of the PIO and the appellate officer which is not being followed in any police station in the city.

Daryaganj-based advocate Vivek Garg will have to wait a while to know the full ramifications of the latest document he has fished out of government vaults using the powerful Right to Information Act.

The 11-page document from the finance ministry to the Prime Minister's Office, and "seen by the finance minister" Pranab Mukherjee, now has home minister P Chidambaram under attack for his role in the 2G spectrum allocation.

The opposition parties are united in demanding Chidambaram's resignation and a CBI inquiry against him for his role as the finance minister when the spectrum allocation was carried out by then telecom minister A Raja in 2008. Multiple RTI applications filed by Garg with the Prime Minister's Office resulted in the finance ministry note to be released to him.

It is not the first time that Garg has got crucial documents from the government through RTI. Garg has till now filed over 4,000 RTIs applications, on matters ranging from local municipal issues of Delhi to Mayawati's alleged misdeeds.

But RTI is not his only way of courting controversies. His family runs Manas Publications which has published many controversial books on intelligence and military.

Garg filed multiple RTI queries with the PMO, seeking copies of all communications between the PMO and the finance ministry, telecom ministry and other stakeholders involved in the allocation of spectrum. The result has been a deluge of documents, running into hundreds of pages, from various stakeholders.

Most of those documents were already in public domain, thanks to whistleblowers and other officials who helped the media and activists expose the 2G spectrum scam.

But there was one list that brought in the storm: A list of 21 documents that are "communication between the PMO and the ministry of finance on 2G spectrum/licence matter from April 2004 onwards". The last document, 21st, is "Department of Economic Affairs' OM" (office memorandum) dated 25.3.2011, signed by PGS Rao, deputy director of the infrastructure and investment division in the Union finance ministry.

The document would have been destined to the dustbin had it not been for the covering letter which said, "This has been seen by the finance minister." As Garg caters to the media demands in the wake of fresh interest in the documents about the 2G scam, he says there are more documents with him that would throw fresh light on the controversy.

It was Delhi advocate Vivek Garg who fished out the letter implicating P Chidambaram in the 2G scam. It is not the first time that he has got crucial papers as he has filed 4,000 RTIs.