The Telegraph: Ranchi: Thursday, December 07, 2017.
A group of
RTI activists across the state on Wednesday staged a protest outside Raj Bhavan
to demand police security against harassment by bureaucrats and government
officials.
Over a dozen
members Suchana Adhikar Manch and Bhartiya Suchana Adhikar Parisad alleged that
had not formulated a policy to protect the whistleblowers despite the repeated
advisories from the Union ministry of home affairs.
"In
Jharkhand, over a dozen cases of murder and victimisation of RTI activists have
taken place, but most of them remained unreported. Our life is under threat
because we expose corruption. We are implicated in false cases," said
Anand Kishore, an activist from Gumla district.
In 2011,
NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) activist Niyamat Ansar, an
associate of economist Jean Dreze was lynched. In 2008, civil
engineer-turned-activist Lalit Mehta, also close to Dreze, was killed in
Palamau. In the same year, Kameshwar Yadav, an MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) activist from Giridih district, was shot
dead.
Manoj Rana of
Hazaribagh district had exposed two scams in Katkamsandi block involving the
construction of a government school building and purchase of solar lights at
high cost by the mukhiya of Dhengra panchayat this year.
"I lost
my right eye after goons attacked and grievously injured me. I had to stay in a
Ranchi-based hospital for more than a month. Police deliberately prepared a
mild injury report. I still get threats. My family doesn't want me to do any
activism for public cause," Rana said.
In 2014,
Babloo Sah of Mandu block in Ramgarh district had exposed corruption in the
construction of five houses for BPL families. An inquiry was conducted and five
panchayat sevaks were suspended.
"The
then Mandu BDO Jai Kumar threatened to harm me and my family over phone. I
submitted evidences to the government and police but no action was taken,"
he said.
Ravikant
Paswan of Latehar district is facing three cases after he exposed a scam
related to the illegal settlement of government land under Latehar Sadar block.
"One day
I visited the block office and found an FIR was lodged against me for
manhandling block officials and employees. There is a strong nexus between
police, civil administration and middlemen to implicate activists like
us," Paswan said.
They alleged
that the State Information Commission was also not interested in the protection
of RTI activists.
"The
state commission is an apex body and should take suo motu cognisance of the
harassment meted out to RTI activists. One of our friends Darsh Choudhary of
Jamshedpur has been fighting a legal battle for the past few years after he was
implicated in a false case. His only fault was that he had exposed corruption
in government health service in Jamshedpur," an activist from Dumka, Ranjan
Kumar, said.
State chief
information commissioner Aditya Swarup said no RTI activist had so far lodged
any harassment complaint before the commission.
"State
commission can act in such cases as per the power vested in the RTI Act. I am
not aware of their demonstration today (Wednesday). To my knowledge one Darsh
Choudhary of Jamshedpur had filed a complaint and I had directed the Jamshedpur
SP to look into the matter," he said.
Promulgated
in 2005, the Right to Information Act proved a potent tool for common people
and activists to expose corruption. In view of the numerous attacks on RTI
activists across the country, the department of personnel & training under
the Union home affairs ministry had on May 2011 set up a task force to review
the provisions of the act and its effective implementation and recommended
measures for protection of persons seeking information under it.
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