42 ‘harassed’, many in jail for seeking information under RTI in Bihar

42 ‘harassed’, many in jail for seeking information under RTI in Bihar

I blogged this article of Indian Express mainly because of two reasons, one that it is an attempt to highlight the current state of law and order in Bihar, and other that it paints skewed or only half image of the story. The heading of the blog itself is misleading since it mentions that people are being harassed which is correct but I guess this is the first time in the history of Bihar when the government is trying to bring in transparency in the system; CM has set up a call center for RTI applicants. 

I am thankful to the journalist of this article 'Santosh Singh' who brought this issue in lime light, but a misleading heading can lead to biased opinion about current state of law and order in Bihar. We know that its not the best in the country but it is definitely improving and there are some NGOs and independent bodies who are contributing to the state. We should boost up their morale by praising their efforts, and not highlighting the terror or harassment, which is true for states like WB, UP or Delhi also.

Excerpts from article: 

In Bihar, often a time, information officials harass RTI applicants by filing false cases against them. The Bihar Human Rights Commission (BHRC) has now recommended that all these officials be placed under suspension. 

BHRC member Justice Rajendra Prasad wrote to the state government on October 29 directing it to “look into the complaints of harassment of RTI applicants by lodging false criminal cases against them by, or at the instance of, state public information officers”.

The allegations, Justice Prasad wrote, constituted “a serious violation of the human rights of the people of Bihar in general, and the existing and potential seekers of information under the RTI Act, 2005, in particular”.

All information officials “to whom such (RTI) applications were given” should be “immediately suspended” and “departmental proceedings (should) be initiated against... (them) within four weeks of receipt of a copy of this order”, Justice Prasad recommended.

“...All criminal cases filed against RTI applicants (should) be dropped wherever such cases have been initiated after the date on which such applicants or their family members gave applications under the RTI Act”. 

The Commission has asked the government to send “a report of the actions taken... within six weeks from receipt of copy of this order”, failing which it would be “constrained to invoke provisions of Section 18 (b) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993”.

Section 18 of the Act deals with “steps after inquiry”, and includes provisions such as approaching the high courts or the Supreme Court.

The officials under the BHRC scanner range from the District Magistrate, Muzaffarpur (who was in charge in 2006) to sub-divisional police officers, circle officers and block development officers, down to officers-in-charge of police stations.

The Commission acted on a complaint by Bihar Right to Information, a voluntary group devoted to taking RTI to the people since 2007. Group coordinator Parveen Amanullah told The Indian Express: “We wrote to the CM thrice, took up the matter during his janta darbars, but there were follow-ups in only two cases.”

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has won accolades from the central government and other agencies for setting up the country’s first RTI call centre — a pioneering concept that has been replicated subsequently.