Deccan Herald: Bengaluru: Sunday, September 10, 2017.
Whistleblowers
and Right to Information (RTI) activists facing threat or danger to life will
receive police protection within a week, according to a new policy of the State
Home department.
Ironically,
the policy was notified just two weeks before journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh
was shot dead by unidentified assailants.
Notified on
August 19, the policy is in line with the RTI Act, 2005 and the Whistleblowers
Protection Act, 2011.
A
whistleblower or RTI activist who perceives threat or danger to life has to
submit an application seeking protection to the Additional Superintendent of
Police or the Deputy Superintendent of Police (headquarters). The police will
conduct a threat analysis. The quantum, type and duration of security will be
decided based upon the assessment of the threat perception, and this process
should not exceed a week, according to the notification issued by the Home
department’s Deputy Secretary (law and order) K Chiranjivi.
Review
panels
A
district-level committee headed by the deputy commissioner will review cases
every three months and also check if the policy is being implemented
efficiently. A State-level committee chaired by the Home secretary will meet
once in six months to review decisions taken by the district-level committees.
The policy,
however, makes it clear that security will not be provided to whistleblowers
and RTI activists “who are involved in criminal cases or involved in activities
which are political/communal/anti-national in nature.”
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