Mafia strikes again

The killing of a Right to Information (RTI) activist in Bhopal warrants a thorough probe. The victim, Shehla Masood filed RTI queries and carried out public campaigns related to corruption, environment and tiger conservation, etc.

She was on her way to participate in a public rally in support of anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, when she was shot dead. Masood’s questions and campaigns as well as her writings on controversial issues seem to have rattled vested interests, who were annoyed, perhaps even afraid that her questions would lay bare their illegal operations.

She had raised queries related to the poaching mafia, the timber mafia and those engaging in illegal diamond mining. Her commitment to unearth the truth resulted in her making many enemies, some of whom would have wanted her silenced. It appears that a senior policeman too had been harassing her. Thus it is not just those engaging in various illegal trades who were irked by her revelations but also those in positions of power who could have been patrons of these mafias. The government must throw the net  wide in searching for her killers.

The vulnerability of RTI activists to threats and silencing by those whose illegal activities they seek to reveal is not new. In Karnataka, an RTI activist who’d file an application to expose the BDA’s involvement in a land scam case was killed in April 2009. A probe revealed the hand of four people linked to the contractors involved in the scam. There are cases across the country of those asking uncomfortable questions about how funds meant for social welfare programmes were spent or names of beneficiaries of land, housing, etc being beaten up, threatened, even killed. Maharashtra tops the list in killings of RTI activists.

The RTI is a powerful weapon in the hands of citizens of this country. Scamsters and their patrons are seeking to undermine it through intimidation of RTI activists. The latter must be protected. Providing them police protection is impossible given the large number of activists.

Those who file an RTI petition are expected to provide a photograph and address details. Can the government put in place foolproof measures to ensure that this information cannot be divulged? Activists say that clearing RTI applications quickly will go a long way in protecting them. Importantly, the RTI bureaucracy and the police must stand by the RTI activists, not by the mafia or their colleagues in government engaging in corruption.