DNA
India: Mumbai: Monday, September 16, 2019.
Thane
Police Commissioner is highly likely to initiate probe against RTI activists.
This comes after Thane civic chief has cited the filing of numerous RTI
applicants on the same subjects followed by regular complaints, writ petitions
and PILs but withdrawing them later are among reasons cited by the Thane civic
chief to Thane police commissioner to probe RTI activists.
The
letter came to light days after Konkan bench of the state information
commission (SIC) directed the public information officer (PIO) of Thane
Municipal Corporation (TMC) to provide letter written by the Thane civic chief
to Thane Police commissioner seeking inquiry against RTI activist.
DNA
in its September 9 issue had written about the order passed by K L Bishnoi,
information commissioner after Shailesh Gandhi, former central information
commissioner was not provided with information. Gandhi had sought information
after reports in media that civic chief had asked police to act against some
activist. The hearing at the commission came up recently after which the information
was provided. The letter was written by Sanjeev Jaiswal to Parambir Singh,
Thane police chief on March 2018. The letter of Jaiswal states that the motive
of such applications is suspect and could be for blackmailing.
It
goes on to ask for a probe into the people named in the letter stating that
their complaints and applications are creating hurdles in the development work.
It goes on to name 10 people among others and asks that they be inquired into.
Last year two of the people named in the letter were arrested for alleged
extortion in Thane. Thane police chief did not respond to call and SMS from DNA
on whether the arrests last year were also the fallout of the letter and an
update on other names.
"I
had sought details because a narrative is being built that anyone who complains
or files RTI regularly is primarily a blackmailer. That is a wrong narrative.
The question is how do illegal things survive and how can government not focus
on the wrongdoing. How can a person be blackmailed if he has not done anything
wrong? If it is withdrawn at the court level, the authorities should be
informing and approaching courts instead of creating a narrative," said
Gandhi. Sanjeev Jaiswal did not reply to call and SMS from DNA.
The
letter of Jaiswal also mentions the issue being taken by Pratap Sarnaik, MLA
from Shiv Sena. "I had taken up the issue for entire Maharashtra and not
just Thane. There are some people who made it their profession. If there are
officers involved, action should be on them too," said Sarnaik.
‘NO
BLACKMAILERS’
Former
CIC Shailesh Gandhi slams TMC move
Shailesh
Gandhi, former central information commissioner, said he tried to find out the
reasons for the probe against activists as he felt a narrative was being
created to brand them ‘blackmailers’. He said a person can’t be called a
blackmailers if he hasn’t done anything wrong.
The
question is how do illegal things survive and how can government not focus on
the wrongdoing, asked Gandhi.TMC chief Sanjeev Jaiswal wasn’t available for
comment
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