Calcutta Telegraph: New Delhi: Thursday, June 22, 2017.
Academics,
artists, former bureaucrats and filmmakers have joined transparency advocates
in expressing concern over an Ajmer court's decision to convict National
Campaign for Peoples' Right to Information co-convener Nikhil Dey and others of
"trespass and simple hurt" in a 19-year-old case related to their
demand for records of expenditure incurred by an elected representative.
"The
case for which the activists have been falsely convicted for is one of the
first documented instances of citizens demanding information to corroborate
records of public expenditure under the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act," the
NCPRI said in a joint statement, referring to the munsif magistrate court's
order that also convicted activists Naruti, Ram Karan and Chotu Lal.
According to
the NCPRI, the activists had gone to ask for information from the sarpanch of
Harmara village on May 6, 1998, carrying with them a letter from the block
development officer. Since the office of the sarpanch was often closed during
working hours, they went to his house to deliver the letter.
"The
sarpanch came out of his house and assaulted the activists to prevent them from
accessing information which would expose his corrupt practices," the
statement said. Two days later, the sarpanch filed an FIR alleging the
activists had assaulted him.
The NCPRI
expressed disappointed at the conviction and said this case was yet another
example of the attacks transparency campaigners often face when using the RTI
law to expose wrongdoing. Nearly 60 RTI activists have been killed and
thousands attacked and threatened, the NCPRI added.
The
signatories to today's statement included filmmaker Anusha Rizvi, economist Devaki
Jain, former bureaucrats
Devasahayam
M.G. and E.A.S. Sarma, academic Romila Thapar, Dilip Simeon and Kalpana
Kannabiran, actors Girish Karnad and Nandita Das, former Delhi High Court Chief
Justice Rajinder Sachar, lawyer Prashant Bhushan, and singers Shubha Mudgal and
T.M. Krishna.
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