Shashidhar Mishra could have spent his entire life as a street vendor in his native village at Begusarai, Bihar. But he decided to get the information kept in the government files unlocked by filing more than 1,000 RTI applications. The reward he got was death. He was killed in his native village by unidentified
gunmen in February 2010. Mishra is among at least 16 RTI activists who have paid with their lives since the RTI Act was enforced in 2005.
RTI activists say such killings were a matter for concern and there needs to be provisions to protect the lives of people involved in unearthing information. They also claim that at least 12 RTI activists have been killed so far this year in different part of the country.
Expressing her concern over the rising incidents of attacks on RTI activists in the country, Magsaysay award winner Aruna Roy said, “It is unfortunate that the RTI activists are killed in the country. It also shows that today RTI activists are unearthing big scams involving government officials as well mafias.”
Ms Roy further noted that government must take immediate steps to check these incidents. “The agencies concerned should immediately bring the information in the public domain for which a RTI activist is killed,”, aid Ms Roy.
Echoing a similar view, Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said, “Recent attacks on the RTI activists are highly condemnable. The authorities concerned must take appropriate steps to improve the environment.” The local police must be sensitised and should treat the complaints lodged by the RTI activists with promptness, he added.
Be it information related to illegal mining, government projects, scams and social and environmental issues, information seekers are becoming victims at the hands of wrongdoers and mafias. Mr Gandhi observed, “The best way to tackle such incidents effectively is to quickly make public the information that the RTI activist was trying to get.” At the same time, he said, “I think that the state information commissions should also take up the matter of attacks on the RTI activists with the authorities concerned in the respective states.”
Interestingly, while the numbers of RTI activists murdered for their work is known, there appears to be no collation of data on attacks on such crusaders in the country. The issue needs to be addressed, Central Information Commission sources indicated.
While stressing his demand for a strong Lokpal Bill, known RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal said, “The series of attacks on RTI activists reinforces our demand for an effective Lokpal Bill. It’s unfortunate that the authorities concerned are not making any effort to save the life of those who expose wrongdoing through the RTI Act.” An effective legal mechanism must be evolved to save the precious lives of RTI activists, he added.