Attacks on RTI activists in India

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Many Right to Information Act (RTI) activists, including policemen, have been harassed and even murdered for seeking information to "promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority" in India. Many face assaults on a regular basis. People seeking information from their gram panchayat and the local administration also face social ostracism. A few activists who sought information under RTI related to MNREGA scams, were killed.[1][2][3] Many threats and attacks (including murder) go unreported by the media.[4][5]

Media reports of more than 300 instances of attacks on or harassment of citizens and at least 51 murders and 5 suicides can be linked to information sought under The Right to Information Act. Maharashtra followed by Gujarat tops the list for states with the most attacks on RTI users.[6]

Overview[edit]

RTI activists are vulnerable human rights defenders (HRDs) in India. Unlike other HRDs, a majority of the RTI activists are not part of an organisation; they often act alone, moved by anger at corruption and other illegal activities. RTI activists are vulnerable because they live in the same areas as public authorities and political leaders who do not want information about their activities to be disclosed.[7] For the most part, human rights defenders receive media attention only when killed or seriously injured. When complaints are made by RTI activists, law enforcement personnel (who often work with corrupt officials) do not take appropriate action [2]. The Right to Information Act, 2005 provides inadequate protection to whistleblowers.[3] The Central Information Commission and the State Information Commissions are not mandated to deal with such threats or attacks or to provide protection when needed.[8] Attacks on RTI users have not ceased despite directions from several information commissions and state governments to protect them from harm.[9]

List of attacks[edit]

There are two sources of crowd sourced lists maintained of the attacks on people using RTI to seek transparency and accountability, primarily based on media reports. The first is via the National Campaign for People's Right to Information available here. The most recent update has 211 people harassed, 163 people physically harmed and an unfortunate 95 people murdered. The second maintained by CHRI is a Hall of Shame.

Killed/Murdered[edit]

Name State District / Location Date Attack type Nature of Activism
Gattu Vamana Rao and his wife Nagamani Telangana Peddapalli 18 February 2021 Murdered by Knife RTI filed for land issue, more details waiting for the culprits.
Ranjan Kumar Das Odisha Kendrapara 1 February 2020 Killed Regularly filed RTIs on local issues, including brick kilns.[10]
Sanjay Dubey Maharashtra Mumbai 20 May 2019 Murdered[11] Filed RTI regarding illegal construction and PIL in High court against a politician.[12][13]
Chirag Patel Gujrat Ahmadabad 16 March 2019 Killed[14] Obtaining information regarding MPLAD.
Vinayak Shirsath Maharashtra Pune 12 February 2019 Murdered[15] Filed RTI regarding illegal construction.[16][17]
Bhola Sah Bihar Banka 23 December 2018 Killed[18] Exposed financial irregularities in Social Welfare schemes.[18]
Manoj Tripathi Madhya Pradesh Bhopal 2 November 2018 Fall from building[19][20] RTI filed. Complaint against powerful leader.[20][21]
Rohit Ashoke Junaware Maharashtra Pune 1 November 2018 Killed[22] Construction related information.[23]
Kedar Singh Jindan Himachal Pradesh Sirmaur 7 September 2018 Killed[24] Exposed various jobs related scam.[24]
Parshuram Pradhan Odisa Sambhalpur 27 August 2018 Killed[25] Exposed corruption in cooperative societies[25]
Valmiki Yadav Bihar Jamui 1 July 2018 Killed[26] Exposed various corrupt practices in Panchayat level programme.[27][28][29]
Rajendra Prasad Singh Bihar East Champaran 21 June 2018 Killed[30] Exposed Several corruption in police recruitmnet, PDS, toilet scheme, health and education scheme through his RTI application.[31][32][33][34]
Jayant Kumar Bihar Vaishali 4 April 2018 Killed[35][36] Exposed corruption in Bihar State Food Corporation.[37] Collected information regarding corrupt practices by policeman and politicians.[38]
Nanjibhai Sondarva Gujarat Rajkot 9 March 2018 Clubbed to death For filing RTIs to expose financial irregularities in the developmental works undertaken in a village[39]
Mirtyunjay Singh Bihar Bhojpur 2017 Killed[40]
Mukesh Dube Madhya Pradesh Moraina 26 September 2017 Stabbed to Death[41][42] Exposed corruption in Panchayats
Md Tahiruddin West Bengal 19 Nov 2016 Murdered Exposed MGNREGA scama in Gram Panchayat of Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal, disseminated Information to job card holders, whose bank accounts were used for withdrawing money in name of fake projects. He was working under the organization PACT Org as a volunteer, it is an organization working in the field of Transparency and anti-corruption
Lalit Mehta Jharkhand 15 May 2008 Killed[43] Mehta used RTI to expose NREGA related scams. Fought for the social audit of NREGA
Kameshwar Yadav Jharkhand 7 June 2008 Killed[3] Sought information on the nexus among officers, politicians, contractors and middlemen in NREGA related irrigation projects in Deori.
Venkatesh Karnataka 4 June 2009
Satish Shetty Maharashtra 13 Jan 2010 Killed[44]
Arun Sawant Maharashtra 2 Jan 2010 Killed[45]
Vishram Laxman Dodiya Gujarat 11 Feb 2010 Killed[46]
Shashidhar Mishra Bihar Begusarai 14 Feb 2010 Killed[47]
Sola Ranga Rao Andhra Pradesh 11 April 2010 Killed[46]
Vitthal Gite Maharashtra 4/21/2010 Killed[48]
Dattatraya Patil Maharashtra Ichalkaranji 5/22/2010 Killed[49]
Gopal Prasad Bihar Buxar 19 July 2010 Killed[40]
Amit Jethwa Gujarat 7/20/2010 Killed[50] Used RTI to expose illegal mining in the Gir Forest area. BJP MP Dinu Boga arrested by CBI in this case. Earlier Gujarat police had given clean chit to Dinu Boga.
Vijay Pratap (alias Babbu Singh) Uttar Pradesh 7/25/2010 Killed[51]
Ramdas Ghadegaonkar Maharashtra 8/27/2010 Killed[52]
Niyamat Ansari Jharkhand 3 February 2011 Killed[1] Exposed corruption by contractors in work under MNREGA.[1]
Jagdish Haryana 2 October 2011 Attempt to kill[53] Jagdish and Phool Singh, another resident of his village, unearthed a pension scam and subsequently filed a case of alleged fraud against the accused in the court. The Village Head tried to kill him, but only managed to crush his legs and killed his daughter-in-law Sonu.
Amit Kapasia Gujarat 12/29/2011 Killed[54]
Shehla Masood Madhya Pradesh 8/16/2011 Killed[55]
Dr. Murlidhar Jaiswal Bihar Munger 4 March 2012 Killed[40]
Rahul Kumar Bihar Katihar 11 March 2012 Killed[40]
Rajesh Yadav Bihar Gaya 12 December 2012 Killed[40]
S Bhuvaneswaran Tamil Nadu 1 October 2012 Killed[56]
Nadeem Saiyed Gujarat 11 May 2011 Killed (reason possibly unrelated)[57]
Ramvilas Singh Bihar Lakhisarai 12 August 2011 Killed (reason possibly unrelated)[58]
V Balasubramanian Tamil Nadu 8/19/2010 Killed(?)[59]
Premnath Jha Maharashtra Mumbai, Virar 25 Feb 2012 Killed[60] Filed several RTI queries with the Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation seeking details of several construction projects
Vasudeva Adiga Karnatka Udupi 12 January 2013 Killed[61]
Ram Kumar Thakkur Bihar Ratnauli, Muzzafarpur 23 March 2013 Killed[2][62] Lawyer; Persisted with a legal case exposing "irregularities" in the implementation of NREGA welfare scheme in his village. Earlier, used RTI and exposed fraud involving sarpanch (village head).[2][62]
Sanjay Tyagi Uttar Pradesh Meerut 25 May 2014 Killed[63]
Shivshankar Jha Bihar Saharsa 2014 Killed
Sandeep Kothari Maharashtra Nagpur 19–21 June 2015 Strangled and then burned to death[64] Exposed illegal sand mining and land grabbing
Surendra Sharma Bihar Masaurhi 3 April 2015 Killed[40]
Gopal Tiwari Bihar Gopalganj 2015 Killed[40]
Ramakan Singh Bihar Rohtas 2016 Killed[40]
Ramesh Agarwal Chattishgarh Raigarh 7 July 2012 Shot[65]

Abducted/Kidnapped and Tortured[edit]

Name State District / Location Date Attack type Nature of Activism
Anoop Singh Uttar Pradesh Noida, Dankaur Town December 2013 Abducted and Tortured An RTI activist was abducted from Dankaur town in Gautam Budh Nagar district on 13 December, burnt with cigarette butts on his private parts and beaten with iron rods before being dumped near a petrol pump in a neighbouring district four days later.

[66][67]

Assault[edit]

Name State Date Attack type Nature of Activism
Yashwant Shinde Maharashtra Jan 2020 Physical assault Shinde had sought details under RTI on Worli police's seizure of Rs. 4 crore in cash from a car during state assembly elections.
Sambhuram Bishnoi Rajasthan Oct 2013 Abduct and Assault with hockey and iron rods in his village sarpanch's house while going for aadhaar card enrollment and killed Exposed MNREGA, Sajal Dhara tubewell scam against his village sarpanch
Adv. Mohd. Hasim Shaikh Maharashtra 5 Jan 2014 Assault with Hockey and Iron rods in the late evening when going towards home, got major injuries and also got finger fractured, the assaulters took away the cell phone and a wallet. Exposed License scams in BMC and also got Penalized officers of BMC by State Information Commissions, working as an alert and active citizen, associated with various citizens group.
Rinku Singh Rahi Uttar Pradesh 26 Mar 2009 Assaulted, removed to a mental institution.[68] Rahi is a bureaucrat who used RTI to expose welfare scheme fraud in Muzzaffarnagar
Firoz Ibrahim Khan Maharashtra 17 Nov 2007 Assault[69]
Gopalbandhu Chhatria Odisha 2 Jan 2009 Assault[70]
Ripu Daman Ohri Punjab 6 Jan 2009 Assault[71]
Munikrishna Karnataka 27 Oct 2009 Assault[72]
Ajay Kumar Delhi 1 Jan 2010 Assault[73] Used RTI to enquire about private house/shop construction on public land under authorization given by a Delhi politician.
Kiran Pandey Punjab 1 Oct 2010 Assault[74]
Sumaira Abdulali Maharashtra 16 Mar 2010 Assault (in 2003 at Kihim Beach and 2010 at Mahad)[75][76][77]
Abhay Patil Maharashtra 4 Jan 2010 Assault[78]
Ashok Kumar Shinde Maharashtra 17 Jul 2010 Assault[79]
Budhai Kumar Uttar Pradesh 8 Sept 2010 Assault[80]
S Channabasappa Patil Karnataka 9/16/10 Assault[81]
Yashwant Gavand Maharashtra 1 February 2011 Assault[82]
Arun Baburao Mane Maharashtra 1 February 2011 Assault[83]
Salman Reddy Orissa 1/17/11 Assault[84]
Safdar Ali Jammu and Kashmir 1/20/11 Assault[85]
Vikrant Karnik Maharashtra 1/25/11 Assault[86]
Amar Pandey Uttar Pradesh 1/27/11 Assault[87]
Gopal Prasad, Anil Mittal, Nanda Sawant Delhi 2 March 2011 Assault[88]
Mangala Ram Rajasthan 3 March 2011 Assault[89]
Bharat Guggul, Bhanji Jogen Gujarat 3 May 2011 Assault[90]
Vishnu Medhkar Maharashtra 4 February 2011 Assault[89]
Dilip Jaiswal Maharashtra 4 May 2011 Assault[91]
Arvind Kaushal Maharashtra 4 August 2011 Assault[92]
Popat Barge Maharashtra 4/17/11 Assault[93]
Jai Bhagwan and Karambir Haryana 5/21/11 Assault[94]
Ismail Patwari Maharashtra 5/27/11 Assault[95]
C.P. Singh Maharashtra 6/22/11 Assault[96]
Baghu Dewani Gujarat 6/24/11 Assault[97]
Ganasham Kunkolkar Goa 7/22/11 Assault[98]
Jaisukh Bambhania Daman and Diu 8 August 2011 Assault[99]
Sanjit Das Meghalaya 8/14/11 Assault[100]
Ajay Ambalia Gujarat 8/31/11 Assault[101]
Parshuram Kishanlal Mali Gujarat 9 July 2011 Assault[102]
Manisha Goswami Gujarat 9/21/11 Assault[103]
Mehul Kataria Maharashtra 10 July 2011 Assault[104]
Santosh M Tiwari Maharashtra, Gujarat 10/16/11 Assault[105]
Poonam Solanki Gujarat 12 February 2011 Assault[106]
Akhilesh Saxena Uttar Pradesh 2008 Assault[70]
Parameswar Sabar Orissa June 2011 Assault[107]
Niren Pareek, Christopher Minz Assam May 2007 Assault[108]
Tapal Ganesh Karnataka Unknown Assault[109]
Purshottam Chauhan Gujarat Unknown Assault[110]
Narayan Hareka Orissa Unknown Assault[111]
Akhil Gogoi Assam Unknown Assault[108]
Sumit Kumar Mahato Jharkhand Unknown Assault[70]
Ms. Poonam Solanki Gujarat 12 July 2011 Assault[106][112] Human Rights Activist
Dudhram Rajasthan, Jaipur 2 February 2012 Assault[113]
Akhil Gogoi Assam, Nalbari 5 July 2012 Assault[114]
Rajesh suresh Bobade Maharashtra 21 September 2012 Assault
L.K.Thapliyal Uttarakhand 25 July 2013 Assault Beaten up by a group of men including a ranger, Devendra Baurai from the Chilawali range of Rajaji National Park. Mr L.K. Thapliyal had filed a RTI against Rajaji National Park.
Anand Kumar Sharma Odisha 11 Feb 2018 Assault, Illegal detention by police and illegal custody by SDJM Beaten up in police station with grievous injury as he exposed the corruption in Police Department.[citation needed]
Nilofar Uttar Pradesh 26 October 2018 Assault[115] Exposed corruption against gram pradhan.[115]
Krishanpal Uttar pradesh 15 May 2019 Assault[116] Exposed illegal possession in government land.[116][117]

Harassment[edit]

Name State Date Attack type Nature of Activism
Srikant Pakal Odisha Feb 2020 Harassment Harassment for filing case in Lokayukt seeking probe against Bishnupada Sethi IAS and alleged that the officer spent Rs 9.46 lakh towards the hospitalisation of his wife and father from the funds of Odisha State Cooperative Bank, in violation of the existing norms during his stint as secretary of cooperation department.[118]
Bibhav Kumar, Rajeev Kumar Uttar Pradesh 1/26/07 Harassment[119]
Tukaram Bansode Maharashtra 12/31/07 Harassment[120]
V Gopalakrishnan Tamil Nadu 3/13/09 Harassment[121]
Srikant Prabhu Maharashtra 5 January 2009 Harassment[70]
Kishori Ram Bihar 7/21/09 Harassment[70]
Goverdhan Singh Rajasthan 3 January 2010 Harassment[70]
Mohit Sharma Delhi 3 December 2010 Harassment[122]
Jay Kumar Raghuvanshi Maharashtra 3/13/10 Harassment[123]
Davinder Khurana Punjab 4 February 2010 Harassment[70]
Ramesh Agrawal Chhattisgarh 6/23/10 Harassment[70]
Ganesh Borhade Maharashtra 7 July 2010 Harassment[124]
Manish Bhatnagar Maharashtra 7/18/10
Harshad Patil Maharashtra 8/13/10 Harassment[126]
Gopalkrishnan, Siva Elango, Madhav Vishnubhatta Tamil Nadu 9 January 2010 Harassment[127]
Fatima Mynsong, Acquiline Songthiang, Matilda Suting Meghalaya 9 January 2010 Harassment[128]
Abhijit Ghosh Maharashtra 9 January 2010 Harassment[129]
Ratna Ala Gujarat 9/29/10 Harassment[130]
Bobby Basaiawmoit Meghalaya 2 January 2011 Harassment[131]
Mary Anne Pohshna Meghalaya 3 September 2011 Harassment[132]
Sanjay Gurav Maharashtra 3/22/11 Harassment[133]
M Z Ali Karnataka 5 October 2011 Harassment[134]
Ketan Shah Gujarat 5 December 2011 Harassment[135][136]
Ravinder Rathi Haryana 6 February 2011 Harassment[137]
Payi Gyadi Arunachal Pradesh 6 May 2011 Harassment[138]
Brijesh Kumar Delhi 8 February 2011 Harassment[139]
Ashok Paswan Bihar 8/19/11 Harassment[140]
Arvind Sharma Punjab 9 May 2011 Harassment[141]
Derrick Dias Goa 9 November 2011 Harassment[98]
Subhash Aggarwal Delhi 10 July 2011 Harassment[142]
Sheeba Fehmi and Arshad Ali Fehmi Delhi 10 August 2011 Harassment[143]
Sanjay Gurav Maharashtra 11/28/11 Harassment[144]
Anupam Saraf, Vaibhav Gandhi and Dinesh Shah Maharashtra 12/13/11 Harassment[145]
R. Marijoseph Karnataka 12/30/11 Harassment[146]
Kishan Lal Gera Haryana Since 2008 Harassment[147]
R V Prasanna Karnataka Since 2009 Harassment[148]
Shiv Prakash Rai Bihar May 2008 Harassment[140]
Takhellambam Ibempishak, Sagolsem Memcha and Konjengbam Anita Manipur Since Apr 2011 Harassment[149]
Pawan Sharma Uttar Pradesh Since 11 April 2011 Harassment[150]
Emmanuel Andhra Pradesh February and March 2011 Harassment[151]
Jagbir Singh Delhi Since February 2011 Harassment[152]
Biren Luwang Manipur Since April 2011 Harassment[153]
Injambakkam H Sekar Tamil Nadu Since August 2011 Harassment[154]
Khirasindhu Sagria Orrisa Since November 2011 Harassment[155]
Muzibur Rehman Unknown 2007 Harassment[156]
Saleem Baig Uttar Pradesh 2007 Harassment[70]
Asith Sangma Meghalaya 2008 Harassment[70]
Ashok Verma Punjab 2009 Harassment[157]
Kheemaram Rajasthan 2010 Harassment[158]
Shivaji Raut Maharashtra June 2011 Harassment[159]
Ajay Gakhar Delhi July 2011 Harassment[160]
All Gujarat RTI users Gujarat July 2011 Harassment[161]
Ankur Patil Maharashtra September 2011 Harassment[162]
Gunjan Mehta Gujarat December 2011 Harassment[163]
Durga Delhi 2011 Harassment[164]
C J Karira Andhra Pradesh 2011 Harassment[165]
Nelapati Papireddy, Pachalla Suryanarayana Reddy and Kovuru Satyanarayana Reddy Andhra Pradesh 2011 Harassment[166]
Mohinder Kumar Punjab Unknown Harassment[167]
Anwar Shaikh Maharashtra Unknown Harassment[168]
Y. Ekyimo Kikon Nagaland Unknown Harassment[169]
Ashok Rathod Gujarat Unknown Harassment[170]
Bharat H Gajjar, Milan Joshi Gujarat Unknown Harassment[171]
Rolly Shivhare Madhya Pradesh Unknown Harassment[70]
Jai Prakash Arya Delhi Unknown Harassment[172]
Gian Singh Delhi Unknown Harassment[172]
Ram Sagar Delhi Unknown Harassment[173]
Sumankant Raichaudhari Bihar Unknown Harassment[174]
Piyusha Tiwari Rajasthan Unknown Harassment[175]
Rayabhai Zapadiya Gujarat Unknown Harassment[176]
Razuddin Harayana Unknown Harassment[177]
Rukhminibhai Andhra Pradesh Unknown Harassment[178]
Roshan Lobo Karnataka Unknown Harassment[179]
Bhadresh Wamja Gujarat Unknown Harassment[103]
Bhanjibhai Jogel and Bharatbhai Ghughal Gujarat Unknown Harassment[103]
Sudhir Yadav Haryana, Gurgaon 6 October 2013 Harassment[180] An RTI Activist who tried to Bring all the documents of Corruption From Villages of the Block Farrukh Nagar, Gurgaon was threaten to be killed if he continue filling the RTI against Sarpanch and keep asking about the development work.
Dilip kumar reddy k Hyderabad 3 Jan 2014 Removed from the job Exposed corruption in engineering college fee reimbursement and seat allocation at aurora Institute.
Mushtaq Pahalgami Jammu and Kashmir 27 December 2010 Physically attacked, abused, threatened against filing any further RTIs/PILs[181] Exposed forest land-grab attempts by the local land mafia, helped ensure the High Court construction ban in the region[182]

Suicide[edit]

Name State Date Attack type Nature of Activism
Jabbardan Gadhvi Gujarat 2/22/2011 Suicide[183]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

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  48. Vitthal Gite[dead link]
  49. Dattatraya Patil[dead link]
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