Times of India: Bhubaneswar: Monday,
August 15, 2016.
The state
government has stonewalled all information on the judicial commission of
inquiry ordered into the killing of five innocent people in an alleged
crossfire between Maoists and security forces at Gumudumaha village in
Kandhamal district on July 8. A Right to Information (RTI) plea filed wth the
public information officer (PIO) of the home department on the issue was met
with silence.
"The
requested information can't be supplied as per Section 8 (1) (h) of the RTI
Act, 2005, since (disclosure of) the information would impede the process of
investigation of the police firing," the PIO wrote in a letter issued on
August 10. Under Section 8 (1) (h), the government can deny information which
it feels could impede the process of investigation or apprehension or
prosecution of offenders.
On July 14,
human rights campaigner Biswapriya Kanungo had filed an application under the
RTI Act seeking details about the commission and the names of the victims. In
his plea with the PIO, Kanungo had sought copy of the government order,
approval and note-sheet for constituting the commission besides a list of those
killed and injured, copies of autopsy reports, government decisions and steps
taken so far on the incident and proceedings of a review meeting chaired by
chief minister Naveen Patnaik into the killings.
Not satisfied
with the reply, Kanungo, who received the letter on Saturday, questioned how
can giving names of victims and information about the publically announced
judicial commission hamper the ongoing probe?
On July 9,
the state government had ordered a panel under the Judicial Commission of
Inquiry Act 1952 to probe the killings. However, the government is yet to
announce the name of the judge who would head the commission and its terms of
reference.
A special
investigation team led by Mahendra Pratap, additional director general, Human
Rights Protection Cell, has been conducting criminal investigation into the
deaths that has created state-wide uproar.
The
government has meanwhile provided attendants' jobs in schools to one member of each
family of the deceased and electrified Gumudumaha village recently. Five
persons, including an 18-month-old boy, were killed in alleged crossfire
between Maoists and security forces but several fact-finding teams of civil
society groups and political parties have blamed one-sided firing by the police
(in a case of mistaken identity) for the deaths.
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