In what appears to be a travesty of justice, three petty thieves were convicted of murdering National Highways Authority of India whistleblower Satyendra Dubey, who had exposed corruption in the PM's Golden Quadrilateral Project in November 2003. Six years after his murder, a Patna fast-track court on Monday convicted all the three accused in the case. Judge Raghvendra Singh will decide on the quantum of punishment to the three convicts...
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In Bihar, death for RTI activist who knew too much by Shoumojit Banerjee
When the government passed the Right to Information (RTI) Act in 2005, it should have added a statutory warning: exercising this right may be extremely injurious to health. Shashidhar Mishra of Begusarai, who was murdered by unknown assailants last Sunday, is the second RTI activist to be killed in a month for perhaps knowing too much. Attacks on RTI activists have emerged as a disturbing trend of late, especially in...
More »Don't just shed tears for Whistleblowers, put systems in place to protect them by Arvind Kejriwal
Satish Shetty's murder raises some critical issues. Before everyone forgets him, can we learn some lessons and put such systems in place so that such murders do not take place in future? Before Shetty, Satyendra Dubey, Manjunath and many others died fighting corruption. It raises two issues — timely and effective investigation into allegations of corruption and security of those who raise their voices. Do we have an effective and...
More »Activists form RTI council to safeguard information, Whistleblowers by Siddhesh Inamdar
Right to Information (RTI) activists from Pune came together on Sunday and formed an RTI council to serve as a repository of information obtained by various activists. “Once the information obtained by anyone under the RTI is available with a council, there will be less threat to an individual’s life,” said Vivek Velankar, an RTI activist, while speaking to journalists after a public meeting to demand justice for the murdered RTI...
More »Fight Corruption - Save Development
On International Anti-Corruption Day (9 December), the United Nations has warned that corruption kills development, and is one of the biggest impediments to reaching the Millennium Development Goals. "When public money is stolen for private gain, it means fewer resources to build schools, hospitals, roads and water treatment facilities. When foreign aid is diverted into private bank accounts, major infrastructure projects come to a halt," said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He warned...
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