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|<ref>[http://www.frontlineonnet.com/stories/20100910271800400.htm]</ref>
|<ref>[http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2718/stories/20100910271800400.htm Abhay Patil]</ref>
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Revision as of 13:01, 2 February 2012

Since 2010, at least 12 RTI activists have been murdered for seeking information to “promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority” of India. Ms. Shehla Masood, a prominent woman RTI activist of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh was murdered on 16 August 2011. She joined the growing list of RTI activists who have been murdered. Even policeman seeking information could not escape death. On25 July 2010, Uttar Pradesh Police Home Guard, Mr Babbu Singh was killed allegedly for seeking information aboutgovernment funds and work done by his village Pradhan(Head) at Katghar village in Bahraich district of UttarPradesh [1]. Many face serious physical assaults on regular basis.Those who seek information from their village panchayatand other local administration also face social ostracisation.A large number of threats and attacks including murder donot make news. [2]

RTI activists are the most vulnerable human rightsdefenders (HRDs) of India. Unlike other HRDs, a largemajority of the RTI activists are not necessarily part of anyorganisation or group. They often act alone, moved byoutrage against corruption and other illegal activities. RTIactivists are extremely vulnerable as they live in the same areasas the corrupt public authorities, political leaders and mafiawho do not want information about their illegal activitiesto be disclosed. The lucky ones come to the media attentiononly when killed, maimed or battling for life.When complaints are made by RTI activists, the lawenforcement personnel, who are usually hand in glove withthose threatening the RTI activists, do not take necessaryaction. The Right to Information Act, 2005 provides noprotection. The Central Information Commission and theState Information Commissions are not mandated either todeal with such threats or attacks or to provide protectionwhen needed. [3]

The protection of the RTI activists has been raised inthe parliament a number of times in 2010. The Ministerof State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievancesand Pensions, Shri V. Narayanasamy while replying tothe Unstarred Question No. 3456 in the Lok Sabha on 1December 2010 stated that reports have appeared in themedia about the victimization of people who use Rightto Information provisions. He, however, downplayed thesituation by stating that the Indian Penal Code and the Codeof Criminal Procedure have adequate provisions enablingthe law enforcement machinery in the States to take strictpreventive and punitive action against such threats. Hefurther stated that the Government of India has urged theChief Ministers of the States and Administrators of UnionTerritories to promptly inquire into such instances, if any,and take action against the offendersSadly, no action is taken even after the Court orders. TheBombay High Court while hearing the murder of RTI activist,Satish Shetty in Maharashtra on 7 May 2010 ordered theState government to immediately provide police protectionto any person or organisation that complains of threat or useof force or has been attacked for filing applications under theRTI Act. The High Court also directed the state governmentto set up provisions for speedy investigation of cases of threatsor attacks against social activists, a monitoring system anda database of social activists, within 90 days. However, thecases of attacks on activists in Maharashtra only increased.It is clear that State government had failed to comply withcourt orders.

There is a need for amendment of the RTI Act to providefor protection of those seeking information under the Act. (May known as Whistleblower protection in India) Asian Centre for Human Rights recommends that a separatechapter, “Protection of those seeking information under the(RTI) Act”[4], be inserted into the Act.Protection measures should include (i) mandatory andimmediate registration of complaint of threats, use of forceor attacks against RTI activist as First Information Reportand placing such FIR before the concerned magistrate/judge of the area within 24 hours for issuance of necessarydirections for physical protection of those under threats ortheir family members, and review such protection measuresfrom time to time; (ii) conducting inquiry into the threatsand attacks by a Police Officer not below the rank ofDeputy Superintendent of Police/Assistant Commissionerof Police and conclusion of such investigation within 90days; and (iii) trial of the accused, if offences made out afterinvestigation, within six months. Further, concerned PublicInformation Officers, First Appellate Authorities and thosedirectly related with the information sought under the RTIAct should be presumed to have abetted the offences againstthe RTI activists unless proven contrary.

Assaults on RTI Activists

Baghu Dewani Parameswar Sabar Niren Pareek, Christopher Minz Ganesh Borhade Takhellambam Ibempishak, sagolsem Memcha and Konjengbam Anita ‘Injambakkam’ H Sekar
Activist Name State Dated Type of Attack Reference
Sanjib Tanti Assam 6/11/07 Assaulted [5]
Firoz Ibrahim Khan Maharashta 11/17/07 Assaulted [6]
Gopalbandhu Chhatria Orrisa 2/1/09 Assaulted [7]
Ripu Daman Ohri Punjab 6/1/09 Assaulted [8]
Dr. Sanjib Nandi Punjab 7/6/09 Assaulted [9]
Munikrishna Karnataka 10/27/09 Assaulted [10]
Ajay Kumar Delhi 1/1/10 Assaulted [11]
Nayana Kathpalia Maharashtra 1/8/10 Assaulted [12]
Kiran Pandey Punjab 1/10/10 Assaulted [13]
Sumaira Abdulali Maharashtra 3/16/10 Assaulted [14]
Abhay Patil Maharashtra 4/1/10 Assaulted [15]
Ashok Kumar Shinde Maharashtra 7/17/10 Assaulted [16]
Budhai Kumar Uttar Pradesh 8/9/10 Assaulted [17]
S Channabasappa Patil Karnataka 9/16/10 Assaulted [18]
Yashwant Gavand Maharashtra 1/2/11 Assaulted [19]
Arun Baburao Mane Maharashtra 1/2/11 Assaulted [20]
Salman Reddy Orissa 1/17/11 Assaulted [21]
Safdar Ali Jammu and Kashmir 1/20/11 Assaulted [22]
Vikrant Karnik Maharashtra 1/25/11 Assaulted [23]
Amar Pandey Uttar Pradesh 1/27/11 Assaulted [24]
Gopal Prasad, Anil Mittal, Nanda Sawant Delhi 2/3/11 Assaulted [25]
Mangala Ram Rajasthan 3/3/11 Assaulted [26]
Bharat Guggul, Bhanji Jogen Gujarat 3/5/11 Assaulted [27]
Vishnu Medhkar Maharashtra 4/2/11 Assaulted [28]
Dilip Jaiswal Maharashtra 4/5/11 Assaulted [29]
Arvind Kaushal Maharashtra 4/8/11 Assaulted [30]
Popat Barge Maharashtra 4/17/11 Assaulted [31]
Jai Bhagwan & Karambir Haryana 5/21/11 Assaulted [32]
Ismail Patwari Maharashtra 5/27/11 Assaulted [33]
C.P. Singh Maharashtra 6/22/11 Assaulted [34]
Gujarat 6/24/11 Assaulted [35]
Ganasham Kunkolkar Goa 7/22/11 Assaulted [36]
Jaisukh Bambhania Daman and Diu 8/8/11 Assaulted [37]
Sanjit Das Meghalaya 8/14/11 Assaulted [38]
Ajay Ambalia Gujarat 8/31/11 Assaulted [39]
Parshuram Kishanlal Mali Gujarat 9/7/11 Assaulted [40]
Manisha Goswami Gujarat 9/21/11 Assaulted [41]
Mehul Kataria Maharashtra 10/7/11 Assaulted [42]
Santosh M Tiwari Maharashtra / Gujarat 10/16/11 Assaulted [43]
Poonam Solanki Gujarat 12/2/11 Assaulted [44]
Akhilesh Saxena Uttar Pradesh in 2008 Assaulted [45]
Orissa June 2011 Assaulted [46]
Assam May 2007 Assaulted [47]
Tapal Ganesh Karnataka Unknown Assaulted [48]
Purshottam Chauhan Gujarat Unknown Assaulted [49]
Narayan Hareka Orissa Unknown Assaulted [50]
Akhil Gogoi Assam Unknown Assaulted [51]
Sumit Kumar Mahato Jharkhand Unknown Assaulted [52]
Bibhav Kumar, Rajeev Kumar Uttar Pradesh 1/26/07 Harassed [53]
Tukaram Bansode Maharashtra 12/31/07 Harassed [54]
V Gopalakrishnan Tamil Nadu 3/13/09 Harassed [55]
Srikant Prabhu Maharashta 5/1/09 Harassed [56]
Kishori Ram Bihar 7/21/09 Harassed [57]
Goverdhan Singh Rajasthan 3/1/10 Harassed [58]
Mohit Sharma Delhi 3/12/10 Harassed [59]
Jay Kumar Raghuvanshi Maharashtra 3/13/10 Harassed [60]
Davinder Khurana Punjab 4/2/10 Harassed [61]
Ramesh Agrawal Chattisgarh 6/23/10 Harassed [62]
Maharashtra 7/7/10 Harassed [63]
Manish Bhatnagar Maharashtra 7/18/10 Harassed [64]
Harshad Patil Maharashta 8/13/10 Harassed [65]
Gopalkrishnan, Siva Elango, Madhav Vishnubhatta Tamil Nadu 9/1/10 Harassed [66]
Fatima Mynsong, Acquiline Songthiang, Matilda Suting Meghalaya 9/1/10 Harassed [67]
Abhijit Ghosh Maharashta 9/1/10 Harassed [68]
Ratna Ala Gujarat 9/29/10 Harassed [69]
Bobby Basaiawmoit Meghalaya 2/1/11 Harassed [70]
Mary Anne Pohshna Meghalaya 3/9/11 Harassed [71]
Sanjay Gurav Maharashtra 3/22/11 Harassed [72]
M Z Ali Karnataka 5/10/11 Harassed [73]
Ketan Shah Gujarat 5/12/11 Harassed [74]
Ravinder Rathi Haryana 6/2/11 Harassed [75]
Payi Gyadi Arunachal Pradesh 6/5/11 Harassed [76]
Brijesh Kumar Delhi 8/2/11 Harassed [77]
Ashok Paswan Bihar 8/19/11 Harassed [78]
Arvind Sharma Punjab 9/5/11 Harassed [79]
Derrick Dias Goa 9/11/11 Harassed [80]
Subhash Aggarwal Delhi 10/7/11 Harassed [81]
Sheeba Fehmi and Arshad Ali Fehmi Delhi 10/8/11 Harassed [82]
Sanjay Gurav Maharashtra 11/28/11 Harassed [83]
Anupam Saraf, Vaibhav Gandhi and Dinesh Shah Maharashtra 12/13/11 Harassed [84]
R. Marijoseph Karnataka 12/30/11 Harassed [85]
Kishan Lal Gera Haryana 2008 onwards Harassed [86]
R V Prasanna Karnataka 2009 onwards Harassed [87]
Shiv Prakash Rai Bihar May 2008 Harassed [88]
Manipur Apr 2011 onwards Harassed [89]
Pawan Sharma Uttar Pradesh Apr 11th, 2011 onwards Harassed [90]
Emmanuel Andhra Pradesh Feb & Mar 2011 Harassed [91]
Jagbir Singh Delhi Feb 2011 onwards Harassed [92]
Biren Luwang Manipur April 2011 onwards Harassed [93]
Tamil Nadu August 2011 onwards Harassed [94]
Khirasindhu Sagria Orrisa After November 2011 Harassed [95]
Muzibur Rehman Unknown in 2007 Harassed [96]
Saleem Baig Uttar Pradesh in 2007 Harassed [97]
Asith Sangma Meghalaya in 2008 Harassed [98]
Ashok Verma Punjab in 2009 Harassed [99]
Kheemaram Rajasthan in 2010 Harassed [100]
Shivaji Raut Maharashtra June 2011 Harassed [101]
Ajay Gakhar Delhi July 2011 Harassed [102]
All Gujarat RTI users Gujarat July 2011 Harassed [103]
Ankur Patil Maharashtra Sep 2011 Harassed [104]
Gunjan Mehta Gujarat Dec 2011 Harassed [105]
Durga Delhi in 2011 Harassed [106]
C J Karira Andhra Pradesh in 2011 Harassed [107]
Nelapati Papireddy Pachalla Suryanarayana Reddy and Kovuru Satyanarayana Reddy Andhra Pradesh in 2011 Harassed [108]
Mohinder Kumar Punjab Unknown Harassed [109]
Anwar Shaikh Maharashtra Unknown Harassed [110]
Y. Ekyimo Kikon Nagaland Unknown Harassed [111]
Ashok Rathod Gujarat Unknown Harassed [112]
Bharat H Gajjar, Milan Joshi Gujarat Unknown Harassed [113]
Rolly Shivhare Madhya Pradesh Unknown Harassed [114]
Jai Prakash Arya Delhi Unknown Harassed [115]
Dr. Gian Singh Delhi Unknown Harassed [116]
Ram Sagar Delhi Unknown Harassed [117]
Sumankant Raichaudhari Bihar Unknown Harassed [118]
Piyusha Tiwari Rajasthan Unknown Harassed [119]
Rayabhai Zapadiya Gujarat Unknown Harassed [120]
Razuddin Harayana Unknown Harassed [121]
Rukhminibhai Andhra Pradesh Unknown Harassed [122]
Roshan Lobo Karnataka Unknown Harassed [123]
Bhadresh Wamja Gujarat Unknown Harassed [124]
Bhanjibhai Jogel and Bharatbhai Ghughal Gujarat Unknown Harassed [125]
Lalit Mehta Jharkhand 5/15/08 Killed [126]
Kameshwar Yadav Jharkhand 6/7/08 Killed [127]
Venkatesh Karnataka 4/6/09 Killed [128]
Satish Shetty Maharashtra 1/13/10 Killed [129]
Arun Sawant Maharashtra 2/1/10 Killed [130]
Vishram Laxman Dodiya Gujarat 2/11/10 Killed [131]
Shashidhar Mishra Bihar 2/14/10 Killed [132]
Sola Ranga Rao Andhra Pradesh 4/11/10 Killed [133]
Vitthal Gite Maharashtra 4/21/10 Killed [134]
Dattatraya Patil Maharashtra 5/22/10 Killed [135]
Amit Jethwa Gujarat 7/20/10 Killed [136]
Vijay Pratap alias Babbu Singh Uttar Pradesh 7/25/10 Killed [137]
Ramdas Ghadegaonkar Maharashtra 8/27/10 Killed [138]
Sonu Haryana 2/10/11 Killed [139]
Niyamat Ansari Jharkhand 3/2/11 Killed [140]
Amit Kapasia Gujarat 12/29/11 Killed [141]
Shehla Masood Madhya Pradesh 8/16/11 Killed [142]
S Bhuvaneswaran Tamil Nadu 1/10/12 Killed [143]
Nadeem Saiyed Gujarat 11/5/11 Killed (Possibly for reason unrelated to RTI filed) [144]
Ramvilas Singh Bihar 12/8/11 Killed (Possibly for reason unrelated to RTI filed) [145]
V Balasubramanian Tamil Nadu 8/19/10 Killed (?) [146]
Jabbardan Gadhvi Gujarat 2/22/11 Killed self [147]

See Also

References

  1. ^ Another RTI Activist Silenced, shot dead in Bihar
  2. ^ RTI Activists Sitting Ducks of India
  3. ^ In India, Whistle-Blowers Pay with Their Lives
  4. ^ ACHR demands amendment of the Act to protect the activists
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ [2]
  7. ^ [3]
  8. ^ [4]
  9. ^ [5]
  10. ^ [6]
  11. ^ [7]
  12. ^ [8]
  13. ^ [9]
  14. ^ [10]
  15. ^ Abhay Patil
  16. ^ [11]
  17. ^ [12]
  18. ^ [13]
  19. ^ [14]
  20. ^ [15]
  21. ^ [16]
  22. ^ [17]
  23. ^ [18]
  24. ^ [19]
  25. ^ [20]
  26. ^ [21]
  27. ^ [22]
  28. ^ [23]
  29. ^ [24]
  30. ^ [25]
  31. ^ [26]
  32. ^ [27]
  33. ^ [28]
  34. ^ [29]
  35. ^ [30]
  36. ^ [31]
  37. ^ [32]
  38. ^ [33]
  39. ^ [34]
  40. ^ [35]
  41. ^ [36]
  42. ^ [37]
  43. ^ [38]
  44. ^ [39]
  45. ^ [40]
  46. ^ [41]
  47. ^ [42]
  48. ^ [43]
  49. ^ [44]
  50. ^ [45]
  51. ^ [46]
  52. ^ [47]
  53. ^ [48]
  54. ^ [49]
  55. ^ [50]
  56. ^ [51]
  57. ^ [52]
  58. ^ [53]
  59. ^ [54]
  60. ^ [55]
  61. ^ [56]
  62. ^ [57]
  63. ^ [58]
  64. ^ [59]
  65. ^ [60]
  66. ^ [61]
  67. ^ [62]
  68. ^ [63]
  69. ^ [64]
  70. ^ [65]
  71. ^ [66]
  72. ^ [67]
  73. ^ [68]
  74. ^ [69]
  75. ^ [70]
  76. ^ [71]
  77. ^ [72]
  78. ^ [73]
  79. ^ [74]
  80. ^ [75]
  81. ^ [76]
  82. ^ [77]
  83. ^ [78]
  84. ^ [79]
  85. ^ [80]
  86. ^ [81]
  87. ^ [82]
  88. ^ [83]
  89. ^ [84]
  90. ^ [85]
  91. ^ [86]
  92. ^ [87]
  93. ^ [88]
  94. ^ [89]
  95. ^ [90]
  96. ^ [91]
  97. ^ [92]
  98. ^ [93]
  99. ^ [94]
  100. ^ [95]
  101. ^ [96]
  102. ^ [97]
  103. ^ [98]
  104. ^ [99]
  105. ^ [100]
  106. ^ [101]
  107. ^ [102]
  108. ^ [103]
  109. ^ [104]
  110. ^ [105]
  111. ^ [106]
  112. ^ [107]
  113. ^ [108]
  114. ^ [109]
  115. ^ [110]
  116. ^ [111]
  117. ^ [112]
  118. ^ [113]
  119. ^ [114]
  120. ^ [115]
  121. ^ [116]
  122. ^ [117]
  123. ^ [118]
  124. ^ [119]
  125. ^ [120]
  126. ^ [121]
  127. ^ [122]
  128. ^ [123]
  129. ^ [124]
  130. ^ [125]
  131. ^ [126]
  132. ^ [127]
  133. ^ [128]
  134. ^ [129]
  135. ^ [130]
  136. ^ [131]
  137. ^ [132]
  138. ^ [133]
  139. ^ [134]
  140. ^ [135]
  141. ^ [136]
  142. ^ [137]
  143. ^ [138]
  144. ^ [139]
  145. ^ [140]
  146. ^ [141]
  147. ^ [142]
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