rti

February 14,2011

Dear Sirs,

We will be featuring a special programme related to attacks on RTI activists. In 2010 the following RTI activists from UP had to face the attacks from unscrpulous elements. As such I will appreciate if you could make available the photographs of atleast some of these RTI activists or suggest how we can approach them.

1. 26 Jan '11, MURDEROUS ASSAULT ON DR AMARNATH PANDEY, Sonbhadra District, UP: Dr Pandey was shot at in Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday night. He was admitted to Benaras Hindu University hospital. Dr Amarnath, a homeopath by profession, exposed corruption in the NREGA work at Bhatauli village by the Block Development Officer and Village Pradhan.

2. 9 Aug '10, ASSAULT ON BUDHAI KUMAR, Sitapur Dist, UP: Around 4pm when Kumar was away from his home, 8-10 men carrying sticks and sickles entered his house and beat his wife Shanti. When Kumar rushed to the house, he too was beaten. Both sustained head injuries Kumar, 50, had filed an RTI application to seek information on the construction material used in the shops which were constructed by the Sidhauli Nagar Panchayat. The public information officer of the office of the District Magistrate asked Kumar to collect the information from the Panchayat office. But the information was not given. "When I went to collect the documents, they said that lot of people come asking for such information. I should stay out of this," said Kumar. Kumar then approached the state information commission which was also unable to provide the information. He also lodged a complaint with the state Lokayukta (ombudsmen). "The attackers included the brother and brother-in- law of Uma Shankar Mishra, chairman of the Nagar Panchayat," said Kumar. "Before this attack, they had verbally threatened me many times," he added. After the attack, Kumar went to the nearest police station, but the police refused to lodge a first information report. Kumar says that he also called the Superintendent of Police Jyoti Narayan who assured help, but later, denied knowledge of this case.

3. 27 July '10, MURDER OF HOME GUARD BABBU SINGH, Bahraich Dist, UP: A UP police home guard was done to death allegedly for daring to seek information under the RTI Act about government funds and work done by his village pradhan in Bahraich. The accused pradhan's husband and four others were arrested in this connection. The police say the murder is fallout of a 40-year-old dispute between the two sides over a piece of land. According to reports, ex-pradhan of Katghar Mohan Singh, his son Vijay Pratap (32) alias Babbu Singh, who is a home guard and had come home on a holiday, and brother Satyadeo Singh was supervising some construction work on a piece of land in the village when one Indrajeet Singh and his cohorts reached the site. Indrajeet is husband of the sitting village pradhan. "As soon as they came, they started abusing and eventually a free for all ensued. Since we were not expecting a showdown and they had come prepared with sticks and rods in hand, we could not do much and they beat us severely," Satyadeo said.

4. 10 Jan 2010, MOB DEMOLITION OF CHAMBER OF ADVOCATE KIRAN PANDE, Ferozepur, UP: In January 2010, goons demolished Pande's chamber in the District Court complex as well, affecting his source of income. Between August 2007 and January 2009, Pande filed 90 RTI applications to the Cantonment Board to seek clarifications on how funds had been utilized. The board replied to only 30 of them with obscure and insufficient information. Pande kept filing appeals to the Central Information Commission and waiting for them to come up for hearing for two years. Meanwhile, he received threats, allegedly from members of the board to stop his activism. He notified every institution he could think of – from the DIG and District Commissioner to the High Court and Sessions Court. Despite his pleas, on the 12th of July 2009, he was kidnapped from a temple on the outskirts of the town. For a week after that Pande was tortured brutally. He was attacked by knives everyday and starved of food and water. With 37 slashes on his body, the heat became all the more unbearable. Pande claims he had no hope of coming out alive at all. Meanwhile the Bar Council went on strike to protest one of their colleagues going missing. The local media picked up the news and with Legislative elections around the corner, pressure began to build up on the government. Finally, unconscious and severely injured, he was left on the road outside the police station. Despite pressure from civil society, all that the police did was register an FIR for kidnapping. His kidnappers are on the loose, the scars on his body have not healed and his back still hurts from the beatings he got.

 

Regards,

 

RAJU VERNEKAR,

NEWS CO-ORDINATOR

SAHARA SAMAY TELEVISION CHANNEL, MUMBAI

 

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