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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Fear stalks RTI activists in state

Fear stalks RTI activists in state

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published Published on Nov 6, 2011   modified Modified on Nov 6, 2011

-The Indian Express

 

While Jethava’s killing hit the headlines, many others are nursing their wounds

The murder of RTI activist Nadeem Saiyed in Ahmedabad on Saturday is only one among several incidents where those seeking to expose corruption have been targeted.

“The Gujarat government has failed to protect rights of RTI activists,” says Bhikhu Jethava, father of Amit Jethava, an RTI activist who was shot dead outside the Gujarat High Court in 2010.

Bhikhu Jethava, who now runs RTI centres in small villages in Junagadh and Amreli districts, says the state government has turned a blind eye against such attacks.

“These attacks time and again prove that RTI activists have to fight with their life at stake,” says Praful Korat, a resident of Mota Samadhiyala village in Una taluka of Junagadh district. Hours after Korat filed an RTI application seeking details about stone-crushing quarry on grazing land in 2009, he was assaulted allegedly by sarpanch Kanti Korat, who is known for his proximity to Junagadh BJP MP Dinu Solanki, whose nephew is the main accused in the Jethava murder case. Korat was left with fractures in hands and legs after the attack.

In almost all the cases reported from Saurashtra region so far, the accused are influential BJP leaders. And, despite police complaints, little action has been taken against them.

Bhagu Devani, a Porbandar-based lawyer, was attacked allegedly by the brother of a local BJP leader in June last for seeking information on an under-construction hotel that allegedly violated costal regulatory zone norms. In August, Kishor Bamaniya from Diu was attacked for seeking information on corruption in local body.

In recent times, there have also been at least 10 cases in Gujarat where RTI activists have been threatened and have later filed complaints either with the police or the state’s Information Commission (IC). During the tenure of R N Das, the state’s last Information Commissioner, the IC had taken proactive steps such as providing necessary protection to RTI activists facing threat and also for conducting enquiries immediately.

This was also mentioned in the draft report recently drawn up by an RTI Task Force set up by the Central government to examine the Act and suggest ways to protect RTI activists and whistleblowers.

According to records available with the RTI helpline operated by the Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel, RTI queries mostly relate to corruption in education, sanitation and health programmes as well as Public Distribution System (PDS) while many others relate to land-grabbing and other personal matters.

Harshad Thakkar, 70, is a homeless person at Odhav in Ahmedabad, but his name appears on two ration cards, which is technically not allowed. After he tried to surrender the cards, he was allegedly threatened by the local PDS shop owner. Thakkar has filed a complaint.

Another Odhav resident, Shailesh Patel, has sought police protection because he fears for his safety after having exposed corruption in local schools there.

Bharat Ghughal and Bhanji Jogel from Rajkot district have lodged complaints alleging the Sarpanch of their village attacked them “because they had exposed misappropriations in Indira Awas Yojana”.

One Bhura Devsibhai, an RTI user from Banaskantha, has also lodged complaints of threats after exposing misappropriation in the construction of a water tank. One Ratilal Rathod, a physically disabled RTI user from Thangadh in Surendranagar, has also lodged a complaint saying a government engineer and a contractor are threatening him because he asked for disclosures of beneficiaries of the toilet construction scheme under the total sanitation programme.

A doctor couple have alleged threats from government workers in their village PHC, whom they accused of misappropriating funds during the the implementation of Janani Suraksha Yojana under the National Rural Health Mission.

RTI user and environmentalist Manisha Goswami was attacked by unidentified men in September last at Vapi, where she works with people affected by the pollution in an area termed “critically polluted” by the government.

More personal matters include one in which a tribal lodged a complaint after he received documents under RTI that some land his villagers have grabbed actually belongs to him.

The Indian Express, 6 November, 2011, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/fear-stalks-rti-activists-in-state/871475/


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