DNA:
Ahmedabad: Monday, 25 January 2016.
12 activists
murdered since 2005; Gujarat also ranks second in number of assaults on
information-seekers.
Aruna Roy,
RTI activist and former member of National Advisory Council; PM Narendra Modi
who talks about good governance should look at the series of deaths of those
who are seeking information under the RTI Act in a BJP-ruled state where he was
formerly the CM.
In a dubious
distinction, Gujarat takes the lead in the total number of murders of RTI
activists and people who sought information under the RTI Act ever since the
transparency Act was implemented in 2005. The latest is the murder of Karsan
Aal at Rangpar in Morbi district on January 2.
As per data
provided by Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel (Gujarat Initiative for RTI), a
voluntary organisation, a total of 12 RTI activists or those who sought
information under the RTI Act, have been murdered in the state, closely
followed by Maharashtra with 11 murders. Next on the list is Uttar Pradesh with
eight murders.
That’s not
all. At 34 cases, Gujarat also comes second in the number of
information-seekers assaulted, followed by Maharashtra with 53 cases. Two
States, Delhi and Odisha, are a distant third with 11 cases of assault each.
Activists
feel what seems to be emboldening criminals is the fact that there hasn’t been
closure in any of the cases. In several of the murder cases, the accused have
not even been identified and, in one case, police have allegedly closed the
case without even filing a chargesheet.
Beginning
with the murder of Amit Jethwa, who was killed near the High Court in July 2010
to the recent case of Ratansinh Chaudhary, who was killed on October 17, 2015,
not a single accused has been sentenced in any of the cases yet. While the Amit
Jethwa case is still being tried in court, Chaudhary’s killers are out on bail.
On January 2,
RTI activist Karsan Aal, 55, who had sought information on illegal mining in
the village, was shot dead. Aal had gone to check on suspected illegal mining
activities along with his son Kalubhai when the incident occurred. Kalubhai,
who witnessed the murder, has named village sarpanch Bharat Makwana and four
others as accused.
In the murder
of Chaudhary, the National Human Rights Commission has sought an Action Taken
Report from the district superintendent of police of Banaskantha, Chirag
Koradiya. The murder occurred on October 17, 2015 at Garamdi village in Suigam
taluka in Banaskantha. But DSP Koradiya maintained that “Ratansinh was not an
RTI activist and he was not murdered for seeking information.” Instead, he
said, “He died following an altercation over a buffalo which was hit by
Ratansinh’s motorbike. We have filed a chargesheet for murder, but all the four
accused are out on bail.”
Well-known
RTI activist and former member of National Advisory Council Aruna Roy, whose
Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan was instrumental in getting the RTI Act
formulated in the country, expressed shock at the numbers. “Prime Minister
Narendra Modi who talks about good governance should look at the series of
deaths of those who are seeking information under the RTI Act in a BJP-ruled
State where he was formerly the chief minister. Instead of being given
information, people are killed in Gujarat,” Roy told DNA.
Gujarat
Pahel, Pankti Jog said, “We have no information on the status of most cases.
This is a terrible situation; people are out on bail and roaming free after
killing RTI
activists, like in the case of Ratansinh’s alleged killers.”
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