COUNTERVIEW: Ahmedabad: Tuesday,
September 06, 2016.
In a major
setback to the Gujarat government, the state information commission, official
watchdog of the right to information (RTI) Act, has ordered immediate release
of the one-person inquiry report on the September 22-23, 2012 Thangarh police
firing of Saurashtra region.
Prepared by
Sanjay Prasad, IAS, who then served as principal secretary, social justice and
empowerment department, the report is said to have indicted senior police
officials for ordering the police firing, which led to the death of three Dalit
youths during protest rallies on two consecutive days.
The report on
the police firing in the industrial town of Thangarh, situated in Surendranagar
district, was submitted by Prasad on May 1, 2013, and despite repeated pleas by
Dalit rights activists, especially those with the Navsarjan Trust in Ahmedabad,
to release it, the state government refused to do it.
Ruling
against the refusal to release the report, state information commissioner VS
Gadhvi, in his order dated August 22, 2016, insisted that the Gujarat
government should take “immediate action” on the release of the report,
insisting, “Its copies should be provided to the applicant.”
The RTI plea
for releasing the report was made by Kirit Rathod, a senior activist of
Navsarjan Trust, last year. The final hearing on refusal to release the report
took place in the state information commission on August 5, 2016.
Apprehending
that the Gujarat government may not even now release the report, Navsarjan
Trust executive director Manjula Pradeep, addressing a media conference, has
warned, “If this happens, we will hesitate to knock the doors of the Gujarat
High Court.”
Added Rathod,
“What 182 MLAs of the Gujarat state assembly failed to do, was made possible on
the basis of pursuing a simple RTI plea and its hearings.”
The state
government has refused to release the report under Section 8(1) of the RTI Act,
which, among other things, exempts the state to disclose any information that
would cause a breach of privilege of Parliament or the State Legislature.
The state
government has been contending, the Sanjay Prasad report would be first
submitted to the state assembly before it is made public. Yet, things have
failed to move.
Gadhvi in his
order notes, the argument that the report has not been placed in the state
assembly “does not stand” as it is “not necessary”, adding, “Release of the
report in no way violates the privilege of the state assembly.”
The order to
release the report becomes particularly important following the Gujarat
government’s recent decision to form a special investigation team (SIT) to
reinvestigate the firing incident. While the police had closed its
investigation, the decision of the state government has given a new hope to
Dalit rights activist that, finally, the truth would be out.
Meanwhile,
father of one of the three Dalit youths (Valjibhai Rathiod, father of Mehul
Rathod, who died in police in police firing) has said that he would organize a
major protest against the state government if it does not release the report
within the next 10 days.
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