[HumJanenge] PROTECTION OF WHISTLE BLOWER - LANDMARK RESOLUTION PROPOSED BY SHAILESH GANDHI, INFORMATION COMMISSIONER ADOPTED BY CIC

PROTECTION OF WHISTLE BLOWER - LANDMARK RESOLUTION PROPOSED BY SHAILESH GANDHI, INFORMATION COMMISSIONER ADOPTED BY CIC 

 

 

CIC SHIELD TO PROTECT RTI CRUSADERS

If activists are attaced, Infor sought by them to be posted online.

 

MUMBAI: Central Information Commission (CIC) has come out with a landmark resolution to combat unending assaults on right to information (RTI) activists. According to the resolution, if the commission receives a complaint regarding an assault on or murder of an information-seeker, it will examine pending RTI applications of the victim and order the departments to publish the requested information suo motu on their websites.

The resolution was mooted by information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi at a meeting of the CIC in mid-September and its minutes were made public on Tuesday.

"It can be an effective deterrent against attacks on RTI activists. If the resolution is used 10 to 15 times, it can protect RTI activists. Nobody will want to attack an activist,'' said Gandhi.

The CIC meeting addressed the need for governments to take responsibility for the lives of information-seekers and protect them from assaults. "The commission also resolves that it will take proactive steps in ascertaining the status of investigations/prosecutions of cases involving information-seekers and endeavors to have these processes expedited,'' the minutes said.

RTI activists are usually attacked because of the nature of information they seek. If the information is made public on the web every time an activist is attacked, Gandhi said that instead of killing RTI activists, people about whom information is sought will try and protect them. "If all information sought by an RTI activist who is attacked or killed is published on the internet, it will defeat the very purpose of attacking an activist,'' he added.

RTI activists have welcomed the move. Milind Mulay, an activist, said people will think twice before attacking an RTI activist. Another activist, Chetan Kothari, felt the move will increase transparency and reduce fraud. He felt that publicising information sought by victims of assault will help people understand the gravity of issues RTI activists seek to expose.

PAST CASES.

* Jan 2010: Pune RTI activist Satish Shetty, who exposed a series of land scams, was hacked to death while on a morning walk.

* April 2010: Vitthal Gite, an RTI activist who exposed irregularities in a village school in Beed (Maharashtra), was killed in a clash between two groups.

* June 2011: Bhagu Devani, a 72-year-old RTI activist, was stabbed at Porbander

* August 2011: Environmentalist and RTI activist Shehla Masood was killed on her way to an Anna Hazare rally in Bhopal.

Times View

TOI applauds the Central Information Commission's bid to curb attacks on RTI activists. The move will ensure people think twice before touching an RTI activist. Under the new rules, if an information-seeker is attacked, all his pending appeals will be answered on the website of the department. It should act as a deterrent, as attacking an RTI activist will defeat the purpose of keeping information under wraps.