By D.P. Bhattacharya in Ahmedabad; With Mail Today Bureaux in Mumbai and Lucknow;
If a threat doesn’t work, a bullet will. Brazen wrongdoers are stopping at nothing to gag RTI activists;
IT WAS hailed as a potent medicine to cut away the canker of corruption plaguing the country’s public institutions. But fighting graft comes at a price as thousands of activists who have used the Right to Information (RTI) Act to blow the lid off several scams very well know. The past two years have seen an exponential rise in the number of RTI whistleblowers being attacked, threatened or even killed for embarking on such crusades.
Last year saw 28 attacks on RTI activists across the country. These included 10 murders. Unofficial estimates claim the number is much higher. This year is no different. January saw five brutal attacks on outspoken RTI campaigners. Several more were reported in the subsequent months.
For instance, on March 3, Dalit activist Mangalaram a resident of Bamanor in Rajasthan’s Barmer district was brutally attacked with axes by the village sarpanch Ghulam Shah and his goons. Mangalaram had to go through all this as he had dared to file an RTI application, demanding information on all public works undertaken since 2001 by Shah’s panchayat. Mangalaram had also filed queries on works sanctioned and undertaken under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act since 2006.
His is not a solitary case. He has company in Dr Amarnath Pandey. A resident of Robertsganj in Sonbhadra district, Uttar Pradesh, the 50-year-old homeopathy practitioner and social worker was shot at in January. “Everything was going well till I started exercising my rights under the RTI Act and started demanding answers from government officers about various developmental works. Soon, I started receiving threat calls.
I reported the matter to the police but they didn’t take me seriously. I think it is safe to say the police and all government officers hate the RTI Act,” Pandey said.
Pandey was lucky to have survived; RTI activist Satish Shetty was not. He was hacked to death in Pune on January 13 last year. The RTI activist from Talegaon Dabhade was instrumental in exposing a number of land scams in Maharashtra by using the Act. Ahmedabad-based environmental activist Amit Jethawa also met the same fate. He died on the spot after unknown assailants pumped several bullets into him right outside the Gujarat High Court building on July 20 last year. Jethawa had moved the court against illegal mining around Gir forest.
Indeed, Gujarat is no haven for RTI activists if statistics are to be believed. While two persons were killed in the state last year for seeking information under the RTI Act, many others have been facing threats and attacks for standing up for their rights. Pankti Jog from the Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel (MAGP), which runs the RTI Helpline in Gujarat, said: “There are several such cases. Activists are targeted frequently for seeking information. Those under most danger are the ones who seek information on land issues. Petitioners quizzing the government on the implementation of the public distribution system (PDS) and other government schemes as well as those who challenged powerful wrongdoers are also hounded.”
NOTED RTI activist Harinesh Pandya said: “The cases of assaults on RTI users are on the rise. We are now asking people to file petitions en bloc (in groups), so no one person is targeted.” He added: “We are also asking the government to ensure that the information sought by any RTI petitioner be brought into the public domain suo moto, so that such tactics of stopping information are rendered useless.”
Gujarat’s chief information commissioner R.N. Das admitted that RTI activists were being harassed in the state. “We have been trying to keep a tab over the situation and keep the law enforcers in the loop,” he said.
But he added that ensuring the safety of the applicants will require larger and better systemic response than addressing individual cases. He also lamented the fact that the commission lacks the teeth to provide protection to such people. Nutan Thakur, a member of National RTI Forum, stressed on the importance of ensuring the activists’ safety. “Law enforces must ensure the activists are not harmed if they want corruption to ebb,” she said.
Many abusing the powerful Act to make a quick buck;
D.P. Bhattacharya in Ahmedabad.
MORE and more people are using the Right to Information (RTI) Act as a tool to expose corruption. At the same time, the legislation is also being misused by a dishonest few to make money.
A number of RTI users in Surat are ‘charging’ several government departments, including the police and the municipality, to not file petitions under the RTI Act, sources said. An official explained the modus operandi of such ‘RTI blackmailers’. He said the unscrupulous information seeker first establishes some contact within the department to get information on malpractices. On finding a loophole, he or she establishes contact with the authority and threatens to expose them through an RTI application. “The obvious result follows and the game of money begins,” he added.
Such syndicates exist all across the state and not only in Surat. A public information officer (PIO) of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) said similar syndicates are in place in the AMC too. “There are people who seek information with malafide intentions but we can do little about them,” he said. A block development officer (BDO) from north Gujarat said:
“I had a case in the Ranavav block of Porbandar, where a man filed a petition under the RTI Act seeking some information from the village level revenue officer. However, when the information was given to him, he kept on dodging it and when a registered post was sent to his house, he got it received by a child. Later he approached the local media and complained that he has been denied the information,” he said.
Subsequently, the commission sought explanation from the BDO and he went on to meet the information seeker. “The man asked me to negotiate with the sarpanch to get him `5 lakh in cash and a job in exchange for the information,” the officer said.
“Such cases are getting rampant and people are displaying shrewd wit in abusing the Act. The Act is serving as a tool to enhance a person’s bargaining power against the system. However, such a practice, though rampant, is only going to hurt the democratic spirit in the long run,” eminent RTI activist from Gujarat Harinesh Pandya said.
“The nature of the Act is such that the probability of its abuse cannot be eliminated under its existing provisions,” Gujarat chief information commissioner R.N. Das said.
“But I personally feel that the information should not be withheld and be brought out in the public domain. If such a provision of publicising any information is made, the use of RTI as a tool of blackmailing will decrease considerably as there would be no way of retracting the same,” Das added.
PURPOSE OF RTI WILL BE LOSTUNLESS GOVT ACTS NOW;
By Dr EAS Sarma
THERE has been an alarming rise in the number of attacks on Right to Information ( RTI) activists. It is not just goons who are persecuting them but government officials also subject whistleblowers threats of various kinds.
Activists in several states such as Maharashtra, Rajasthan and other places have been brutally attacked by criminals, leading permanent disabilities and loss of life. In some cases, the activists are also framed in false cases.
In Andhra Pradesh, we have come across two such incidents in the recent past. In one incident, Doddi Ramanna, an RTI activist from Gajuwaka area of Visakhapatnam, was threatened with dire consequences by police officers for filing an RTI application. He sought information on the reported permission given to a Telugu film unit for erecting a at the Sambuvanipalem reservoir falling under the Kambalakonda wildlife sanctuary forest department.
The police threatened to either eliminate him in a false encounter or frame him in a fake narcotics case. He is now running from pillar to post for security.
In another incident, Emannuel from Chirala in the Prakasam district was threatened by a police official for seeking information on works undertaken by a local MLA. The police accused him of seeking information with the intention to pass on the same to Maoists. The police had also not acted on his complaint against the MLA’s followers who had attacked his house last month.
The whole purpose of enacting the RTI Act would be lost if the government itself encourages such attacks on the information seekers and whistle blowers. The Act was enacted under mass pressure after a fundamental right under Article 19 of the Constitution.
In fact, Section 4 of the RTI Act clearly states that the government should provide information to the people even before somebody seeks it by filing an RTI application.
And once the information is provided to the RTI activists, it should be declared a public property and made available to everybody.
But no department has ever done it so far.
Unfortunately, the government always takes recourse to excuses to deny information sought by the people on various matters of public concern.
The spate of attacks on RTI activists is part of this strategy.
Instead of parting with the information on crucial subjects, the government, through police machinery, is resorting to intimidating tactics to frighten RTI activists. On many occasions, the activists are being linked to Maoists or other extremist elements.
Apart from killing the activists in “ encounters”, the threat of implicating them in false cases continues. There have been instances of the state authorities trying to intimidate officials and causing distress to them.
Unfortunately, the system of redressing the grievances through the Right to Information commission has also been faulty. The appointment of RTI commissioners is also a part of a conspiracy. The government appoints retired bureaucrats as commissioners, as they know how not to divulge information than how to.
Why can’t the government think of people with a clean image, like retired judges, as RTI commissioners? It is because the government only wants those who would dance to its tunes.
At present, there is no way to prevent the attacks on RTI activists except from taking legal recourse. The collectors have to be empowered with judicial powers to provide security to activists under threat. Otherwise, the victims have to go back to the same police who threaten them, for protection.
The Union home ministry has to take an initiative in making stringent laws to prevent recurring attacks on the RTI activists and instill confidence in them.
-As told to A. Srinivasa Rao in Hyderabad.
WHISTLEBLOWERS WHO PAID DEARLY FOR EXPOSING GRAFT;
RTI activists are being increasingly hounded. There were 28 attacks on whistleblowers in 2010. This year, too, has seen a slew of attacks on those who set out in the pursuit of justice
AMARNATH PANDEY:
ATTACKED ON JANUARY 26, 2011 WHERE: Robertsganj, Sonbhadra district, UP Pandey, 56, was shot at near his home WHY: The doctor was allegedly attacked on the orders of contractors whose shady dealings he had revealed. Pandey had exposed through RTI how bricks were bought for six times their value for roads that were never built
VIKRANT KARNIK:
ATTACKED ON JANUARY 25, 2011 WHERE: Thane Three persons attack Karnik with choppers and other sharp weapons, stabbing him repeatedly in the head, chest and face WHY: Karnik had sought information on a number of real estate projects by a prominent Mumbai builder. Among the projects was a multi-crore residential project close to Bhiwandi
YASHWANT GAWAND:
ATTACKED ON JANUARY 2, 2011 WHERE: Bhandup, Mumbai The RTI activist was attacked by goons, allegedly on the orders of local Shiv Sena corporator Suresh Shinde WHY: Gavand had exposed through RTI Shinde’s assets that he had not declared to the Election Commission
AMITJETHAWA:
KILLED ON JULY 20, 2010 WHERE: Ahmedabad The environment activist was shot dead by two men on a motorbike outside a court WHY: Jethawa, 35, had been using the RTI Act for two years to fight against illegal mines operating inside the Gir lion sanctuary. His family blames BJP MP Dinubhai Solanki for the murder. Jethawa had filed six RTI applications seeking to reveal Solanki’s possible involvement in illegal mining at Gir
SOLA RANGA RAO:
KILLED ON APRIL 4, 2010 WHERE: Sitaramapuram, Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh The body of the 30-year-old, who owned a small eatery in the village, was found in a roadside bush. Authorities claimed he died in an accident. But Rao’s father lodged a complaint with the police station citing murder WHY: Rao had filed an RTI query with the Mandal Parishad Development Office regarding the utilisation of funds sanctioned for laying a drainage system in his village
MANGALARAM:
ATTACKED ON MARCH 3, 2011 WHERE: Bamanor village, Barmer, Rajasthan The Dalit activist was attacked with axes by Bamanor village sarpanch Ghulam Shah and his goons WHY: Mangalaram had filed an RTI application, demanding information on all public works undertaken since 2001 in his panchayat, and MGNREGA works sanctioned and undertaken since 2006
ARUN MANE:
ATTACKED ON JANUARY 2, 2011 WHERE: Pune Mane, who runs a footwear shop in Talegaon, is hospitalised with injuries to his head, chest and hand after he is brutally attacked WHY: He had filed an RTI application seeking information for land acquisition around the Mumbai-Pune Expressway
SATISH SHETTY:
KILLED ON JANUARY 13, 2010 WHERE: Pune The 39-year-old activist from Talegaon Dabhade in Pune was hacked to death when he was on a morning walk. Shetty had demanded police protection earlier but officials ignored his request WHY: Shetty had blown the whistle on a series of land scams in and around Talegaon, using the RTI Act. He had also exposed shady real estate dealings worth `4,000 crore by IRB Infrastructure Developers
JAGDISH SINGH:
ATTACKED ON FEBRUARY 10, 2011 WHERE: Pune Singh’s daughter-in-law Sonu was killed as she tried to rescue him after the village head, Dharambir Malik, crushed his legs under his car. After failing to kill Singh, Malik ran over Sonu, who died in hospital a day later WHY: Singh had exposed a pension scam in his village through the RTI. It was Malik who had allegedly siphoned off pension funds
SHASHIDHAR MISHRA:
KILLED ON FEBRUARY 14, 2010 WHERE: Barauni, Begusarai Three unidentified motorcycle borne assailants shot Mishra, a vociferous activist, in the head while he was parking his bicycle. Mishra had also been attacked two years earlier but he survived at the time WHY: Popularly known as ‘Khabari Lal’, Mishra frequently sought information on welfare schemes. He had come into the limelight when his RTI application exposed the nexus between railway police & criminals at the Barauni railway station
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