Punjab News Express: Chandigarh: Saturday, July 29, 2017.
Attack on
Babu Ram Chauhan will be treated as another criminal case notwithstanding that
he helped remove encroachments on over 17,000 hectare of irrigated land.
Babu Ram
Chauhan always knew what was coming but he could not afford to drop what he was
doing. Belonging to Ramgarh village located near India’s border with Pakistan
in west Rajasthan, Chauhan exposed encroachment on more than 17,000 hectare of
prime irrigated land in the area.
On July 11,
he was kidnapped while returning home after teaching at a school 30km away from
his village. The kidnappers beat him up badly, shaved his head and forced urine
down his throat. They would have thrown him in the Indira Gandhi canal but for
a few passersby who raised an alarm. Chauhan suffered fractures in both legs
and one hand.
I had met him
three years ago while doing research on victimisation of RTI users in Rajasthan
and Gujarat for the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the nodal
agency for implementation of RTI Act.
A slim school
teacher in his mid-30s, Chauhan came across as a strong-willed man ready to
take on anybody. The recommendations I made in my report for RTI users drew
heavily from his work.
What made
Chauhan’s efforts unique was how he made an individual initiative into
community work.
The work
that matters
Ramgarh is
one of the last settlements where the water from Indira Gandhi canal reaches.
The land in its command area is meant to be allocated to landless farmers at
subsidised rates. But land mafia, with help of local government officials,
encroached upon the area depriving many deserving farmers of their titles.
Ramgarh is
one of the last settlements where the water from Indira Gandhi canal reaches. A
view of the Indira Gandhi canal . Credit: Wikipedia
Besides being
financially strong, the encroachers were from the traditionally dominant Rajput
community while the landless farmers mostly belonged to SC/ST communities.
Chauhan, himself belonging to scheduled caste Meghwal community, knew that
using RTI against encroachers would also disturb local power equations.
Since he was
not to benefit from the allotment, Chauhan’s credibility as a self-less worker
got strengthened. Around 200 co-villagers, who were awaiting land allotment,
contributed money to support the efforts. Chauhan also trained them in filing
of RTIs and scrutinising the government records. These trained people filed
around 60 percent of all RTIs submitted to access land records. Chauhan also
kept accounts of the donated money open for anybody to inspect.
When asked
why he decided to expose land mafia, he had told me: “My father was able to
support my education because he had a piece of land to cultivate. Imagine how
many poor families will be able to improve their lot if land is allotted
according to rules.”
Threatened by
his work, the encroachers decided to get even.
An anonymous
complaint was sent to the local administration in 2010 accusing Chauhan of
being a Pakistani spy helping the neighbouring country procure maps of the
canal area through the RTI Act.
Separate
inquiries were initiated into the allegations by the CB-CID and the education
department but the allegations were found to be baseless. During these
inquiries, villagers came out in full support of Chauhan. The threats
continued, directly from the land mafia and indirectly from local revenue
officials but the work continued.
Over the last
few years, most of the encroached land has been recovered and landless families
given their entitlements. This further irritated the land mafia, which finally
caught up with him on July 11.
That the
attack included humiliating acts of shorning his head and forcing urine down
his throat signifies that the assailants wanted to assert the caste supremacy
as well.
Can we
expect justice?
An FIR has
been registered and four persons arrested and later released on bail. The
Rajput community welcomed them home by taking out a celebratory procession
through the village. Other seven accused,, including the main conspirator, are
still out as the police claim to be investigating their involvement.
Even after
two orders of the Gujarat Information Commission in favour of information
disclosure, the required documents are yet to be received. Credits:
Shutterstock
Before long,
Chauhan will be another number in the tally of RTI users attacked or killed. A
recent report by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative puts the number at 39
killed and 275 assaulted in last 10 years.
On June 20, a
journalist-activist was killed in Gujarat for seeking questioning the police
about illegal liquor trade. Just a day before, another RTI user from Madhya
Pradesh was killed for exposing land mafia.
All these
cases end up being treated like any other criminal case even though the victims
do a great service by exposing corruption. Mangla Ram caught media attention in
2011 when he was attacked for seeking information about development works done
in his village in Barmer district of Rajasthan. The victim accused the sarpanch
and his supporters for the attack. Though a report was duly registered by the
police, no arrest was made of the sarpanch, supposedly due to his considerable
political and religious clout. Police claimed it was Mangla Ram who provoked
the sarpanch’s supporters and the man himself was not involved. Those rounded
up were also released on bail within four days.
A special
investigation by a team of government officials into the development projects
found glaring wrongdoings and unaccounted money amounting to Rs 361,750. In
response, the state Principal Secretary passed orders to recover the
unaccounted money and begin disciplinary proceedings against those found
guilty, but no action has been taken against the accused.
Another case
is that of Vishram Dodia, a street hawker who questioned the functioning of a
power distribution company and gangs involved in illegal liquor trading and
gambling in Surat, Gujarat. He was killed in full public view. A few persons
were arrested but the witnesses retracted their statements helping the accused
walk free. The Gujarat Police refused to provide investigation report I sought
under RTI Act. Even after two orders of the Gujarat Information Commission in
favour of information disclosure, the required documents are yet to be
received.
There are
many more such cases which die a slow death.
Where
government fails, people succeed
Even after 10
years of the RTI Act, we don’t have concrete policy on protection of
information seekers. A minor deterrent exists in the form of a decision of CIC
that information sought by a harassed RTI applicant will be put into public
domain. The state information commissions and respective government departments
are yet to adopt the mechanism. The draft Whistleblowers’ Protection Act, which
is also meant to cover common citizens, is still stuck with Union Law Ministry.
The only
helpline for protection of RTI users is run by a Gujarat-based non-profit
Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel which puts pressure on local administration to act
swiftly whenever somebody reports threats or attack.
The DoPT
restricts itself to issuing guidelines on proactive disclosures and refuses to
stand behind RTI users. On learning about the attack on Chauhan, I called an
official in the department asking if they could issue a letter to the district
administration asking for a fair probe. “We don’t get involved in such matters.
Many a times, these attacks turn out to be related to personal rivalry,” the
official said. “True, but this is a person who is profiled in a research report
commissioned and published by you. And seeking a fair probe is the safest
statement one can make without favouring either party,” I argued without
success.
Thankfully,
Chauhan does not live on government support. Those living in hinterlands of
this country can only count on people around them. Chauhan has no dearth of
that support because of what he has done for his co-villagers. That it took
land mafia over five years to actually carry out the threat signifies his
support base. The road to justice is long and tedious but Chauhan does not need
to wait for redemption. I am sure he will return stronger.
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