Express Buzz:Thursday, Aug 18, 2011.
Shehla Masood has joined the long list of whistleblowers who have had to pay with their lives for targeting the corrupt. She was shot dead by unknown assailants in Bhopal apparently because of her energetic investigation of tiger poachers. Although she had complained to the authorities about the threats she was receiving after she began inquiries into the death of a tigress in the Bandhavgarh National Park, no protection was provided. Yet, there was undoubtedly a need for the authorities to be alert about the danger she faced because, in addition to her pursuit of poachers, she was engaged in exposing illegal diamond mining in the state.
Considering that 12 RTI activists were killed between 2008 and 2010, the urgency for enacting a law to protect the whistleblowers cannot be emphasised more. In view of the growing number of murders, the punishment prescribed under the proposed whistleblowers Act three years’ imprisonment or a fine up to `50,000 does not seem adequate. In any event, the punishment will be for those who reveal the identity of the whistleblowers, but in the case of those filing petitions under the RTI, their names are already known to their targets.
Although some of the whistleblowers have gained near-iconic status because of their courage, it is a sad commentary on both the law and order situation and the corruption which permeates the economic sector and, as Masood’s death confirms, the wildlife sanctuaries. The nation owes it to likes of Satyendra Dubey, who was killed in 2003 for revealing dubious practices in the national highways project, Shanmugam Manjunath, who was killed in 2005 for sealing petrol stations selling adulterated fuel, and many such bravehearts. But, still, there is seemingly no end yet to such sacrifices.
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