Journalism of Courage
After the recent furore over unauthorised access to call data records CDRs of Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley,the Ministry of Home Affairs MHA has decided to make the guidelines for obtaining the information stringent.
The new set of guidelines would be issued by the Department of Telecommunications in consultation with the MHA,said officials.
Under the fresh guidelines,officers of the rank of Superintendent of Police and above alone will be authorised to seek such details from telecom operators.
At present,an ACP is the nodal officer. According to the MHA,the police will also have to maintain a log of all such requests which will be subject to audits. The SPs have to give a mandatory declaration to District Magistrates DMs about the CDRs obtained every month. They will also have to mention the reasons for accessing the CDRs and ensure that the data does not fall into wrong hands.
The DMs will forward the information to the Chief Secretary concerned for maintaining a state-wide record. The government is also contemplating to amend the Indian Telegraph Act to keep a tab on dubious characters and organisations trying to access such information.
