THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ; Sunday, September 12, 2010 ;
The WSJ’s Krishna Pokharel wrote today about activists in India who have been murdered for their work seeking information under the Right to Information Act. Here is a look at five of those activists and the stories behind their deaths.
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| Vishram Dodiya |
Vishram Laxman Dodiya
Vishram Laxman Dodiya, 55 years old, made a meager living selling water and books from the roadside in the city of Surat in the western state of Gujarat. From his stand, he wrote letters to government offices requesting information on everything from how many electricity lines an electric company was installing to what the government was doing to stop gambling in the area where he lived.
“He was not educated, but he could see the problems and where the problems lied by reading newspapers and talking to people,” says Deepak Patel, a teacher and RTI activist who was Mr. Dodiya’s friend.
On Feb.11, three men with swords hacked Mr. Dodiya to death on a road near his home. Local police, who say he was killed for his activism, have arrested three men and charged them with murder. The case is now in a court in Surat.
Ramdas Patil Ghadegaonkar
Ramdas Patil Ghadegaonkar, 35, sold milk near the Godavari River in the western state of Maharasthra. After seeing some companies using heavy machinery to dredge sand from the river, he became worried about how it would affect farming in the area, and sought information on sand harvesting regulations. When he found out that mechanized dredging wasn’t allowed, he filed a complaint against a company with the district authority, which fined the company and stopped the dredging.
On the night of Aug. 27, local police found Mr. Ghadegaonkar’s body under a bridge. Fellow RTI activists say he was killed in retaliation for blocking the dredging. Police say they haven’t determined whether his death was connected to his activism, but are investigating whether he was poisoned.
Vitthal Gitte
A farmer in Maharashtra state, Vitthal Gitte used the information law to look into the finances of a state school in his village. He discovered that teachers at the school were pocketing grant and scholarship money meant for students, as well as padding their salaries by claiming they worked at more than one school. On April 18, after a local paper published his findings, people connected with the school attacked Mr. Gitte with sickles, police say. He died three days later from his injuries. Local police have arrested 13 people in connection with the attack but are yet to charge them.
Venkatesh
Venkatesh, a 35-year-old RTI activist in India’s tech capital of Bangalore who went by only one name, used the information law to uncover land records that proved a businessman in his neighborhood had illegally encroached on government land to build a house to sell after construction.
The government tore down the building. Police found Venkatesh’s beaten body on the road in May 2008. They say the businessman hired a contract killer to kill Venkatesh. Police in Banaglore have arrested six men, including the businessman and the contract killer, and charged them with murder. They are all in custody, and the case is going on in a Bangalore court.
Kameshwar Yadav
A political activist in the eastern state of Jharkhand, Kameshwar Yadav followed money that was supposed to be used to provide jobs for the poor. He asked how much was being spent in his district and how many jobs were being created. He was concerned that contractors were doing government work using machinery instead of people and pocketing the pay that was supposed to go to poor laborers.
In June 2008, before he got the information he had requested, he was shot dead while walking home from the local market. Police have arrested seven people in connection with the case, and say he was killed by people angry that he was trying to interfere with their construction business. Police have charged them with murder, and the case is now in a local court.
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