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| More than two dozen attacks on RTI activists in 4 years | | Law to protect Whistle- blowers nowhere in sight | |
Early Times Report
Srinagar, Feb 8: The Right to Information (RTI) Activists in Jammu and Kashmir have been under direct threat from the criminal elements who are getting exposed after the information goes into public domain under RTI Act. The criminal & corrupt elements have left no stone unturned to unleash terror on the RTI activists and the RTI users but under J&K RTI Act 2009 there is no protection for the RTI activists or the RTI users. But after the enactment of Whistle- blowers protection bill at National level it was felt that the similar law could be enacted in J&K state but till date the Govt has remained silent on this matter. The work on whistle - blowers protection was initiated few years back when the bill was introduced in Lok Sabha in Aug 2010 by Govt of India. The bill was referred to standing committee on Sept 16th 2010 and the standing committee submitted its report on June 9th 2011. The Lok Sabha passed this act on Dec 27th 2011. Till date the J&K Govt has not taken any steps to enact a similar law in J&K State where the whistle - blowers and RTI activists have been assaulted on many occasions. Pertinent to mention that once the Whistle-blowers protection bill enacted by Govt of India it cannot be extended to J&K State under article 370 and there is an urgent need for such a kind of law in J&K. There have been cases of physical attacks on RTI applicants in Kutabal Budgam wherein a Sarpanch physically attacked one RTI user who exposed a big scam under IAY which forced the Sarpanch to pay back lakhs into Govt account. In Srinagar few years back a scholar of Kashmir University namely Arif Shah was beaten to pulp in the Biochemistry department after he filed an application under RTI Act in SKIMS to expose some bungling in Kashmir University. One Shakeel ul Rasool of Sumbal Bandipora district was thrashed publically by some contractors and panchayat members after exposing a MG NREGA scam in the area. Cases of attacks on RTI activists have been reported in Gandoh Bhalesssa in Doda , Poonch , Rajouri , and some other areas of Jammu region as well. |
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