Gujarat Information Commission orders rollback of CID’s RTI exemption in cyber fraud cases
Victims of cyber fraud cannot be denied information under the guise of ‘security exemptions’
Updated: Jun 7th, 2025
In a landmark decision, the Gujarat State Information Commission has recommended the state government to revoke the blanket RTI exemption granted to CID (Crime) concerning cyber fraud investigations.
The order emphasises that denying information to victims under Section 24 of the RTI Act, 2005—which allows exemptions for agencies handling sensitive investigations—is unjust when applied to routine cyber-crimes.
The case involves appellant Rakeshkumar Prajapati, a victim of cyber fraud involving ₹4.5 lakh stolen from his Axis Bank account. After filing a complaint with Cyber Crime Cell, which falls under CID crime, he sought copies of the FIR and investigation records under the RTI Act.
The CID refused, citing its exemption under a 2005 state government notification.
The applicant complained to the State Information Commission and SIC Nikhil Bhatt recently passed an important order in this case.
According to the order, “CID does carry out investigation in very sensitive cases and disclosing the details of the same is improper and this CID Crime has been exempted under section 24 of the RTI Act. However, misusing this exemption to withhold cyber fraud investigation details is unacceptable. The ‘security exemption’ clause cannot shield agencies from basic accountability in routine cyber-crimes.”
“Every day, citizens defrauded online anxiously await updates on their complaints. And under RTI citizens have Right to know what action has been taken to recover their funds,” the order further clarified.
SIC has recommended the state government, using power availed by the Information Commission under section 25(3)(g) of RTI Act to give recommendations to the state on matters relevant for operationalising the right to access information.
The commission recommended the state government to amend the 2005 notification to exclude cyber fraud cases from CID’s RTI exemptions.
Commission further recommended that the similar modifications be done to Local Crime Branches (LCB) and other units exempted under the same notification.
Cyber fraud in Gujarat
This decision brings relief to hundreds of cyber fraud victims in Gujarat, enabling them to access investigation details through RTI once the exemption is revised.
Further, the commission has ordered the CID to provide the appellant his requested information within 5 days of the state government amending the notification.
According to data presented in the Gujarat Vidhan Sabha, over the past three years, cyber fraudsters have defrauded 21,600 people in the state.
Cyber conmen swindled ₹41 crore from the people of Gujarat. Although the police claim to be equipped with modern tools and techniques, they have managed to recover only ₹5.37 crore from the cyber mafia so far.
A total of 20 people in Gujarat are falling prey to cyber scams every day.
While ₹41 crore was swindled out of the bank account of Gujaratis, merely 22% of the funds were recovered and only 13% of people got their money back.
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