The New Indian Express: New
Delhi: Wednesday, June 12, 2013.
The National
Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a final reminder to the Karnataka
Director General of Police (DG&IGP) over the murder of an RTI activist in
Chikmaglur district.
The apex
human rights body issued the direction on a petition filed by Supreme Court
lawyer and rights activist Radhakanta Tripathy.
The RTI
activist, Vandaru Vasudeva Adiga of Udupi district was missing from January 7
and his family had registered a missing person’s complaint with the police.
While the police were clueless, passersby saw a body which was floating in a
tank and informed the police. That’s how the body of Vandaru Vasudeva Adiga was
found.
The body of
Adiga was found with hands and legs tied and a heavy stone attached to his legs
to prevent the body from surfacing.
Adiga’s RTI
queries helped unearth the big Jambittige scam and forced people involved to
cough up hefty amounts as fine. He had also unearthed many scams using RTI,
rubbing those involved in it the wrong way.
The Udupi
police, from whose limits Adiga was allegedly kidnapped, had not been able to
achieve any breakthrough in the case from the day of the incident. This sort of
murder poses serious threats to activists across the country, Radhakanta
pointed out.
He sought an
impartial investigation of the case and safety of activists in the country and
compensation to the family of the deceased activist.
Earlier, the
NHRC sought an ATR and directed the DG&IGP to file a report within four
weeks. However, the DG&IGP is yet to
file his reply to the NHRC.
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