Question : MURDER OF RTI ACTIVISTS

(a) whether the Right to Information activists are being murdered brutally for obtaining information;

(b) if so, the details thereof, State-wise and Union Territory-wise;

(c) whether any stringent law has been enacted or is likely to be enacted by the Government to protect and check such murders/heinous crime upon the RTI activists;

(d) if not, the reasons therefor; and

(e) the reasons for not providing timely security to the Right to Information Activists by the Government who had been murdered/serious crime committed upon them?

Minister of State in the Ministry of Planning and Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. (SHRI V. NARAYANASAMY)

(a) & (b) : Reports have appeared in the media about the victimization of people who use Right to Information provisions. Media has also reported on the alleged murder of some RTI activists including the murder of Amit Jethwa and Vishram Kaxman Dodiya in Gujarat; Dattatratya Pirgonda Patil, Vitthal Gite and Satish Shetty in Maharashtra; Sola Ranga Rao in Andhra Pradesh; Shashidhar Mishra in Bihar; Venkatesh in Karnataka.

(c) to (e) : The Indian Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure have adequate provisions enabling the law enforcement machinery in the States to take strict preventive and punitive action in such matters. The Government of India has urged the Chief Ministers of the States and Administrators of Union Territories to promptly inquire into such instances, if any, and take action against the offenders.