Threats shadow activists
At least 10 RTI applicants have been killed over the past two years,
with many others facing threats in their bid to expose corruption
On a Republic Day when India celebrated 61 years of justice, equality
and liberty, Amar Nath Pandey says he encountered the darkest moment
of his life.
In late evening on 26 January, a lone assailant leaped from the folds
of darkness in the street outside his house in Uttar Pradesh's
Robertsganj and shot him at close range. The bullet grazed his head
above his left ear without causing any fatal injury, but it's not the
attack that has left him shaken. He says it's the cruel coincidence of
the assault with Republic Day, an event he had celebrated a few hours
earlier.
A serial applicant under the Right to Information Act (RTI) that
grants the common man the right to access information on government
schemes, and convenor of Lok Sangharsh Samiti, a group working against
corruption, Pandey says 26 January will now always mark a day when
someone wanted to kill him for exercising his fundamental right. "I
don't feel safe anymore. What had I asked for more than simple
information?'' he asks.
The information Pandey had sought turned out to be complicated. His
RTI queries over the last one year attempted to uncover corruption in
the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
(MGNREGS), a government project that promises 100 days of guaranteed
jobs to poor households every year; Indira Awaas Yojna, a government
housing scheme for the poor; and other local projects in his village.
Pandey claims that his RTI queries led to threats to his life followed
by a road assault by a few unidentified men on a speeding jeep, as
mentioned in the First Information Report (FIR) filed by him.
Pandey could have been the 11th RTI activist to die. But the homeopath
survived, becoming one of the many RTI activists to have suffered
repeated attempts of murder, physical assaults and intimidation in
recent months. According to figures available with National RTI Forum
(NRF), a national organization based in Lucknow that was established
to raise awareness about the Act, at least 10 activists have been
killed in the past two years. There are no official figures for
threats and assaults but NRF's president Amitabh Thakur says
relentless RTI applications are prompting attacks on the activists.
Just a year ago, Satish Shetty, a 39-year-old social activist,
succumbed to injuries after an attacker stabbed his head several times
with a sharp weapon outside his home in Pune on a foggy morning of 13
January. On the night of 11 February last year, 55-year-old Vishram
Bhai Dodiya, a bookseller in Surat, died on the spot after being hit
on the head with a stick and with multiple stab wounds on his back,
according to an FIR filing. Amit Jethva, an environmentalist from
Gujarat's Khamba village was murdered outside the state high court on
20 July 2010, as per the FIR. His brother Jignesh Jethwa claims that
the attacks happened in response to his RTI queries on illegal mining
in the neighbouring Gir reserved forests, which later formed the basis
of public interest litigation.
Under the RTI Act, citizens are empowered to seek information on the
functioning of the government and are to get what they demand within
three months; in matters relating to life and liberty, answers to
queries can be demanded within 48 hours. Right to know a public act is
a fundamental right. But the movement for greater transparency has now
come under a shroud of darkness as individuals increasingly face
threats—both veiled and direct—for attempting to expose corruption.
"It's reflective of complete disruption of the notion of governance in
the country," says Aruna Roy, leading social activist who spearheaded
the RTI movement, which led to the enactment of the Act in 2005. Roy,
a Magsaysay awardee, says while initial years of the Act uncovered
small instances of corruption, violence has escalated as it's now
being used to unearth bigger scams.
Santosh, who uses only one name, a 25-year-old activist with
Delhi-based RTI advocacy group Parivartan, didn't always believe that
a simple 20-rupee application for information on food supplies to
Public Distribution System outlets could unsettle ration shop owners
in her Sunder Nagari colony in New Delhi. Her rounds of government
offices were always marked by protesting ration shop owners, who would
protest her presence, abuse her and issue open threats before the
authorities, she says. Between 2003 and 2009, she says there were nine
attacks on her, two of which could have turned fatal. "Twice I was
attacked with a blade and my throat was slit by unidentified men. I am
not scared but my family worries a lot," she says.
She later reported the blade attacks to the police through a written complaint.
In later years, Santosh filed about 100 RTI applications on a range of
issues, including corruption in PDS, issuance of caste certificates
for backward classes, installation of electricity meters and local
area development works of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
Yet, at the Central Information Commission (CIC)—the apex body
established to ensure implementation of the law—RTI applications are
often defeated by inordinate delays in responses from concerned
officials. Activists say such delays expose individuals to possible
threats from those with vested interest. Central and state information
commissions, they say, often lack the power to take actions when
government agencies resist, often in collusion with police.
"We need to strengthen accountability in regulatory systems and for
that, creation of a supervising body is essential. This is when the
Lok Pal Bill becomes important," says Aruna Roy. "It's not so much
about corruption, but arbitrary use of power given by the state."
The Bill provides for appointment of an ombudsman at the Centre who
can look into irregularities by government officials and politicians
and redress grievances of citizens.
Wajahat Habibullah, India's first CIC, says the very fact that attacks
are happening proves the RTI Act is making an impact, though a more
proactive role needs to be played not only by the commission but also
members of the civil society and the police.
"Efficacy of the Act is connected to the political future of the
country. The government, which ensured its introduction, passage and
implementation, should not fight shy of standing by the activists of
the Act who are true ambassadors of democracy," he says. "To make it
work, social and political consciousness of this country have to work
together."
The CIC deplored attacks on activists in a meeting held in September
2010. Its members have also begun discussing the Act and related
issues with people engaging actively with the Act. The commission is
also taking cognizance to ensure that information sought by RTI filers
facing obstruction should be made public and writing to different
authorities when such complaints arrive, according to information
commissioner Shailesh Gandhi.
"Ninety per cent of the RTI cases seek to access private information,
not for public good. And both are equally important, and both kind of
people need protection," chief information commissioner Satyananda
Mishra said.
Aruna Roy insists attacks are not just a law and order problem; but
Mishra believes otherwise. He says 90% of the cases are not related to
public good or many private information is being asked through RTI.
"Both are equally important because they are questions posed by public
and both kind of people need protection. Actual enforcement can only
be done by the police," he says.
In his tenure as CIC, Habibullah cites a case wherein the commission
asked the respondent in the case to provide protection to the
applicant.
"A Coal India employee was being threatened for having filed an RTI to
find out the donations made by his employer to the Prime Minister's
Relief Fund (PMRF). Responses from his employer and the PMRF on the
amount of donations varied after which he received threat calls. We
asked Coal India to provide him protection," says Habibullah.
While the RTI Act has well-intended principles and is anchored in the
philosophy of empowering citizens with information for public good, it
also suffers from a few loopholes which the government agencies use to
evade action.
Exactly a year ago, Ajay Kumar, who runs an NGO, was attacked by
thugs—allegedly at the behest of Congress corporator Satbir
Sharma—when he, along with municipal corporation officials went to
take stock of unauthorized construction in north Delhi.
They had gone supposedly to inspect land occupied by illegal means on
the instructions of the central information commissioner, after the
corporation failed to provide any answers to an RTI application,
according to FIR filing.
While Kumar was repeatedly hit with an iron rod that left him
unconsciousness and with a broken nose, the police stood as mute
witnesses, he says. Several of his colleagues, too, have been
implicated for possession of arms.
Following this incident, information commissioner Gandhi is said to
have instructed the police to take action. But the police moved court,
saying the commission was not a competent authority it can take orders
from. "The police is clearly not comfortable in acting upon the orders
of the commission," states Gandhi. "And if such incidents could happen
in Delhi in the presence of police and (perpetrators) can get away
with it, it's a matter of concern."
Around 263,261 RTI requests were received by the CIC in 2007-2008, the
latest data available with the commission show. This excluded the
complaints filed with the state authorities.
And, surprisingly, the highest number of rejections for RTI requests
has come from the home ministry, under whose control the central
information commission itself operates.
Sweeping the old order of corruption is almost impossible without an
effective grievance redressal system. The RTI Act, Arvind Kejriwal,
founder of Parivartan, says will remain ineffectual and RTI seekers
will continue to face threat if whistleblowers aren't protected.
"Politicians, bureaucrats, police and industrialists are getting
richer," Kejriwal insists. "If anyone indulges in corruption, there's
little chance today that anybody would go to jail, or dismissed from
their jobs or their ill-gotten wealth will ever get confiscated."
Meanwhile, RTI seekers feel vulnerable, giving up pursuing their case
midway. Mohit Sharma, an advocate in New Delhi, filed a plea last year
seeking information on the unauthorized construction on land
controlled by the city municipal corporation. After repeated appeals,
when the commission set a final date for reply, three executive
engineers landed up at his home and made veiled threats to him and his
aging father "to put reason in his son" or "he may meet with an
accident".
"I did not surrender immediately and filed a police compliant," says
Sharma. "But after some thought, I gave up because there was a risk to
life and I could see the consequences (of their threats)," says
Sharma.
Fear of harassment also prompted N.P. Singh, a doctor, to cancel his
RTI application three years ago. Singh filed a complaint with the
transport department about the delay in securing his driver's licence
and posed queries relating to general status and procedures of licence
eligibility. Instead of a reply, a police officer promptly showed up
at his east Delhi home to make a deal one afternoon: recall RTI in
exchange for a licence. Singh relented. "I got my licence. But in
these matters," says Singh, "only thugs have their way."
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