RTI activist murdered in Bihar
The Right To Information Act [ RTI] claimed one more life in Bihar with the brutal murder of activist Surendra Sharma, whose body was found in a field in Naubatpur, some 25 km from the state capital Patna, on Friday.
Sharma, a well- known rights activist, is the “seventh martyr” of the transparency law. Sharma had made several enemies over the past few years due to his social work.
People said the 55- year- old activist had recently submitted an application for information on the MNREGA scheme, infuriating several people.
Shiv Prakash Rai, convenor of the Nagrik Adhikar Manch and nationally famed RTI activist, told this newspaper that of late Bihar has become a “killing field of in f o r mati on - s e e ke r s ” . However, Maharashtra tops the list with nine killings and 53 attacks.
Activists claim this exposes the deep nexus between the mafia, local officials and contractors with the blessings of the bureaucracy. Activists in Bihar say they are intimidated and threatened by the people they seek to expose. In 2009 alone five RTI activists were murdered, Rai has demanded a CBI Inquiry into the murder of Sharma and compensation. In 2012, Nitish Kumar had asked the administration to ensure that informationseekers were protected, but officials ignored Mr Kumar. The result: attacks and murder continue.
BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said, “The murder of the RTI activist has unmasked the Nitish Kumar government’s failure and indifference towards the growing mafia raj in Bihar. Our claims that jungle raj has returned to the state after Lalu Yadav joined hands with Nitish Kumar stands vindicated.”
As per Shiv Prakash Rai’s claims, the best phase concerning RTI applications in Bihar was from August 2011 to mid- 2013 when a number of pro- activist initiatives were taken and implemented.
According to data collected by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiatives
( CHRI), in the first eight years of RTI in India there were 251 cases in which activists and informationseekers were harassed and mentally tortured. This includes killings.