Takes more than guns to kill…

It's good to fight for effective laws that guarantee basic rights to people. But, after that? The Right to Information Act (RTI) is one of the most enabling legislations passed in recent years. It has helped unearth many a scam across the country and is the most potent tool in the hands of citizens today to stop any wrongdoing by government officials and authorities.

This Act has, nevertheless, led to the snuffing out of precious lives of courageous and promising young activists, whose only crime was to take on the local power nexus. According to official figures, in the past few months, as many as 10 RTI activists have been killed in various parts of the country. The number is much higher, according to activists.

Activist shot

The latest in the series of such killings is the murder of Shehla Masood in Bhopal. Unfortunately, the news of her murder was buried in the din of the Lokpal Bill protests. The day after Independence Day, Shehla, an RTI activist in her late thirties, was about to leave her home in an upscale locality in Madhya Pradesh's capital to take part in a support rally for Anna Hazare's fast. But before she could start her car, she was shot dead by an unknown assailant. Her aunt, who did not hear the car leave, came down to check and found Shehla slumped on the driver's seat of her Santro.

Shehla, say her friends, was a gutsy woman who was involved in taking up many environmental causes in her State, such as protection of forests, rivers and wildlife, including tigers. Of late, she was active in the movement to save the watershed of the Panna Tiger Reserve and the Shyamri River in Madhya Pradesh, one of the cleanest in the country, from NYSE-listed transnational diamond company, Rio Tinto's mining activity.

Even the Rural Development Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh, acknowledged her zeal and expressed shock at her death. He recalled the numerous interactions he had with her on issues concerning tiger conservation and environment when he was Environment Minister. He has written to the Madhya Pradesh Government demanding a probe.

Living under threat

Predictably, the Madhya Pradesh cops started floating theories of a possible suicide, even as the CBI is now looking into the case. Besides killings, attacks on RTI activists have been on the rise. This is apart from the daily threats that they and their families live under.

Doesn't the entire purpose of such an enabling legislation get defeated if there is no protection for all those who stand up to take on the powerful and moneyed? These are just RTI activists, but there are hundreds of others, including journalists, who have lost their lives in the process of exposing the powerful, such as Satyendra Dubey, Manjunath and J. Dey.

The Government says it is framing a law to protect whistle-blowers. However, the process needs to be speeded up. Moreover, unless the law is strong and its implementation is enforced, it may go the same way as many others.

There have been instances when activists have asked for protection, but the local authorities, under pressure from politicians or money power, have denied it. Probably, the Gujarat RTI activists have shown the way — they have formed a union. If that's the way to get your voice heard, so be it!

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