Attacks on RTI Activists in India in January 2011

Death Looming on RTI Activists

There have been 5 attacks on RTI Activist’s in India in January 2011 itself,Right To
Information Activist’s in India have been bearing the Brunt of Exposing Corruption and
opening up Can of Worms.Its not only to deter people from using The Right to Information
Act but also to scare the existing ones to get Scared after a Bid on their life and to stay away
from the Bureaucratic and Political Machinery and looking at the behavior of the Government it
really does not seem that they are worried for them.

In January itself there have been 5 attacks

On 2nd January 2001 there were two attacks the first one on RTI Activist Yashwant Gawand
from Bhandup in Mumbai who was attacked by a mob connected to a local Shiv Sena Corporator
Suresh Shinde. Gavand had exposed the Corporators Undeclared Assets, through RTI, that were
not declared by him to the Election Commission in the last election for which he paid a price in
form of an Attack.

On 2nd Jan 2011 RTI Activist Arun Mane was attacked in Pune Maharashtra Mane runs a
footwear shop in Talegaon and was an Associate of the Slain RTI Activist and was Continuing
the work started by RTI activist, Satish Shetty, who apparently was murdered in Talegaon in
January 2010. On 2nd January 2011 Mane was Hospitalized with injuries to his head, chest and
hand he had informed the Police that he had been assaulted in his shop. The attack theory took a
turn around by him two days later when he Retracted from his Statement and filed an affidavit
saying that he had not been attacked but had inflicted the wounds on himself. He also withdrew
the police cases against the unidentified assailants. Even the Pune police gave a statement that
Mane had Self-inflicted wounds and he was mentally unstable, But it is believed that Mane had
withdrawn the cases for the sake of his family’s security as his family was traumatized,with his
mother already being a heart patient he had no options but to withdraw the cases for her sake So
a legitimate attack was proved as a Fabricated one.
Who else could have gained from this none other than those against whom Mane had been
seeking information for land acquisition around the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. His RTI
application with the Lonavala police had asked three questions: a) What action have the police
taken on the complaint filed by Satish Shetty? b) Had Shetty filed a criminal complaint against a
person and a company related to IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd? and c) Are cases pertaining
to the mentioned crimes pending in courts? If yes, then who is handling the cases,Pursuing this
got him into trouble so it really wont be shocking to probe the role of people who are supposed
to responsible for Safety of Citizens.
On Jan 17th 2011 An RTI Activist Safdar Ali was attacked in Doda Dist of Jammu & Kashmir
the attack was because of an RTI application with the BDO for a water tank which collapsed due
to substandard construction the water tank was for the village which collapsed a few days after it
was constructed, Safdar Ali and others lodged a strong protest with the local block office. This
resulted in the concerned BDO immediately pulling up the contractors . After some days, Safdar
Ali was accosted by the village Bhandoga Numberdar (village head) Sonaullah Kashmiri who
threatened him of dire consequences. On 15th January 2011, Ali and others contacted Masood
Mirza SHO Police Station Thathri and sought police protection. On January 17, a group of three
persons including a contractor and a member of Village Defence caught Ali in a village bylane,
threatened him repeatedly, asked him to stop all his RTI related work and beat him up badly.
Later Ali again lodged an FIR with the police station in Thathri.
On 25th January 2011 There was a Brutal Assault on Vikrant Karnik from Thane District in
Maharashtra Vikrant was attacked near his house by three people with choppers and other sharp
weapons outside his house at Ghantali, Thane. Karnik suffered severe stab wounds on the head,
chest and face. His assailants hurled abuses at him before leaving him in a pool of blood. They
quickly fled the scene. Locals took Karnik to the Thane civil hospital, where doctors attended to
his injuries. Karnik has blamed the attack on a Mumbai-based builder and a local Shiv Sena
leader, whose activities he sought to expose. Inspector Hemant Sawant of the Naupada police
said Karnik told the cops that the builder was upset with him for filing RTI queries on his
projects and collecting a dossier on violation of coastal regulation zone (CRZ) norms and other
environmental rules. The projects are on the outskirts of Thane, Dombivli, etc, and among them
is a multi-crore residential layout close to the Bhiwandi bypass. About the Sena leader, Karnik
said it was on his instance that the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) made the former
prime accused in a case of power theft. The Sena leader had allegedly ordered electricity to be
stolen from lamp posts to light up a stage for a cultural programme. Karnik subsequently told the
police that he feared for his safety as the Sena leader, along with his associates, had indirectly
issued threats to him A protest march was later taken out Supporting Vikrant Karnik but does
that resolve the issue or the Cause what he had taken up !!
On the Republic Day Night 26 Jan 2011, Dr Amarnath Pandey was Shot at in Sonbhadra
District in Uttar Pradesh . He was admitted to Benaras Hindu University hospital. Dr Pandey is a
homeopath and had exposed corruption in the NREGA work at Bhatauli village by the Block
Development Officer and Village Pradhan.
Even after so many attacks in the First month of the Year our Politicians are already busy in
finding ways to Curb the RTI Activists by Proposing Modifications and Ammendments to the
RTI ACT.

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