Activist murder triggers anonymous blitzkrieg
By Gajanan Khergamker
Instead of upholding the citizen’s Right to Information and giving them what is rightly theirs, the state makes the public run from pillar to post, even tries to nip the freedom to question the legality of an entity. 
The whistleblower has been attacked more often than lauded for his attempts. DraftCraft, in a joint initiative with Afternoon Despatch & Courier, introduces Right Here, Right Now to bring Right to Information (RTI) issues into focus, showcase public cause and even activists and their ventures, while assisting the citizen with drafting applications through personal intervention and even publicising them through this page
Anna Hazare’s tryst with the common man’s right has been legendary. It may be recalled that it was in the early 2000s when the social activist led a movement in Maharashtra forcing the state government to enact a revised Maharashtra Right to Information Act.
This Act was later considered as the base document for the Right to Information Act 2005 (RTI), enacted by the Union Government. It also ensured the President of India assented to this new Act.
On 20 July 2006, the Union Cabinet amended the Right to Information Act 2005 to exclude file noting by government officials from its purview. Hazare began his fast unto death on 9 August 2006 in Alandi against the proposed amendment.
It was only after the government agreed to change its earlier decision that he ended his fast on 19 August 2006.
Titled ‘RTI Activists: Sitting ducks of India’, a report by the Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) said from Jan 2010 to Aug 2011, at least 12 activists including Shehla Masood were killed for seeking information to “promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority” in India.
Anti-corruption campaigner Masood was shot in the neck in her car outside her home in the Koh-e-Fiza area of Bhopal on August 16. Her murder shocked Madhya Pradesh and RTI activists across India.
Incidentally, on July 25, 2010, Babbu Singh of Uttar Pradesh Home Guard was killed allegedly for seeking information about government funds and work done by his village pradhan at Katghar village in Uttar Pradesh.
RTI activists continue being among the most vulnerable human rights defenders and there are recommendations that the government amend the RTI Act and a separate chapter on protection of those seeking information be inserted.
In the next few months, NRI Anand Sharma, Delhi-based web-designer Avnish Singh and IIT-Kharagpur student Ritesh Singh pooled in their expertise and stood up for what they believed in.
Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption movement got them close but what worked as a trigger was the murder of RTI activist and friend Shehla Masood, which led to a citizens’ initiative launched online, allowing applicants a shield of anonymity while seeking information from any public agency.
Investigations in Shehla Masood’s killing have been disappointing so far and her friends decided to re-file her 40-odd pending RTI applications as a resounding answer to those who wanted to silence her because they didn’t want to reply to her pending RTI applications.
The friends have been trying to revive RTI Leaks (http://getup4change.org/rti), a project which Shehla started with Ritesh, to create a one-stop source for all information retrieved through RTI applications throughout India.
And, in the process, have been putting online the most revealing of the information retrieved through Shehla’s RTI applications to put more pressure on the corrupt system.
The RTI applications and answers obtained reveal how 12 Judges of the Madhya Pradesh High Court were spending public money lavishly for their own personal purposes. Apparently, Shehla was also threatened by the Protocol Officer of the Chief Minister’s house, Sanjay Chauhan for this expose.
On October 15th, within two months of Masood’s death, they have floated ‘RTI Anonymous’ and at a time when transparency movements both in India and abroad strive for survival.
Attacks on information seekers have become commonplace, with transparency groups estimating that 28 activists have been killed since the RTI Act was passed in 2005.
• RTI applicants can log on to www.getup4change.org
• Click on the ‘Submit RTI’ link to file a Right To Information application
• Users can also send an email with a dummy email ID, if they wish
• The team files the RTI through their network of volunteers at no cost to the applicants
• Applicants can choose to be appraised on the progress of their application via email
• The information or document is put up on the site once obtained
• The group has no details of applicants. So, identity of information seekers is protected
