September 11, 2010, 11:59 AM IST.
5 of the Slain Activists
The WSJ's Krishna Pokharel wrote today about activists in India who
have been murdered for their work seeking information under the Right
to Information Act. Here is a look at five of those activists and the
stories behind their deaths.
Vishram Laxman Dodiya, 55 years old, made a meager living selling
water and books from the roadside in the city of Surat in the western
state of Gujarat. From his stand, he wrote letters to government
offices requesting information on everything from how many electricity
lines an electric company was installing to what the government was
doing to stop gambling in the area where he lived.
"He was not educated, but he could see the problems and where the
problems lied by reading newspapers and talking to people," says
Deepak Patel, a teacher and RTI activist who was Mr. Dodiya's friend.
On Feb.11, three men with swords hacked Mr. Dodiya to death on a road
near his home. Local police, who say he was killed for his activism,
have arrested three men and charged them with murder. The case is now
in a court in Surat.
Ramdas Patil Ghadegaonkar, 35, sold milk near the Godavari River in
the western state of Maharasthra. After seeing some companies using
heavy machinery to dredge sand from the river, he became worried about
how it would affect farming in the area, and sought information on
sand harvesting regulations. When he found out that mechanized
dredging wasn't allowed, he filed a complaint against a company with
the district authority, which fined the company and stopped the
dredging.
On the night of Aug. 27, local police found Mr. Ghadegaonkar's body
under a bridge. Fellow RTI activists say he was killed in retaliation
for blocking the dredging. Police say they haven't determined whether
his death was connected to his activism, but are investigating whether
he was poisoned.
A farmer in Maharashtra state, Vitthal Gitte used the information law
to look into the finances of a state school in his village. He
discovered that teachers at the school were pocketing grant and
scholarship money meant for students, as well as padding their
salaries by claiming they worked at more than one school. On April 18,
after a local paper published his findings, people connected with the
school attacked Mr. Gitte with sickles, police say. He died three days
later from his injuries. Local police have arrested 13 people in
connection with the attack but are yet to charge them.
Venkatesh, a 35-year-old RTI activist in India's tech capital of
Bangalore who went by only one name, used the information law to
uncover land records that proved a businessman in his neighborhood had
illegally encroached on government land to build a house to sell after
construction.
The government tore down the building. Police found Venkatesh's beaten
body on the road in May 2008. They say the businessman hired a
contract killer to kill Venkatesh. Police in Banaglore have arrested
six men, including the businessman and the contract killer, and
charged them with murder. They are all in custody, and the case is
going on in a Bangalore court.
A political activist in the eastern state of Jharkhand, Kameshwar
Yadav followed money that was supposed to be used to provide jobs for
the poor. He asked how much was being spent in his district and how
many jobs were being created. He was concerned that contractors were
doing government work using machinery instead of people and pocketing
the pay that was supposed to go to poor laborers.
In June 2008, before he got the information he had requested, he was
shot dead while walking home from the local market. Police have
arrested seven people in connection with the case, and say he was
killed by people angry that he was trying to interfere with their
construction business. Police have charged them with murder, and the
case is now in a local court.
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2010/09/11/5-of-the-slain-activists/
--
Urvashi Sharma
RTI Helpmail( Web Based )
aishwaryaj2010@gmail.com
Mobile Rti Helpline
8081898081 ( 8 A.M. to 10 P.M. )
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