Almost a week after RTI activist Amit Jethava was shot dead near the Gujarat High Court, the minister-in-charge of RTI Act on Thursday denied any move to frame a law to protect RTI activists while the Central Information Commissioner said it was the “job of the police” to protect them.
“There is no proposal before the government to frame a specific law to protect RTI activists,” Minister of State for Public Grievances Prithviraj Chavan said in his written reply before the Rajya Sabha. Chavan was replying to a question by V Hanumantha Rao as to when “a specific law will be put in place to protect RTI activists”.
The minister said violence against activists, “when reported”, was investigated by the local police. “There have been reports in the media, and the government has been informed about increased threat to RTI activists. Such incidents, when reported, are investigated by the local police,” he said.
Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah echoed Chavan’s views, saying it was the “job of the police” to protect RTI activists and the information commissions had no “legal authority” to do so. “The threat has now started emerging, society has to start thinking of measures to protect itself,” Habibullah told The Indian Express.
However, he said the Central Information Commission would surely intervene if RTI activists facing threats approached it. “A certain weightage is attached to the Information Commission. We will caution the government against vested interests who threaten RTI activists. These vested interests will think twice then,” he added.
Jethava, who was campaigning against illegal mining in Gir Sanctuary areas, was shot dead on July 20.
Meanwhile, Chavan said in the same reply that a new Bill to protect whistle-blowers was nearing finalisation. The draft of the Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Informers) Bill, 2009, intends to designate the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) as the nodal authority to which complaints against any central government employee or central government-backed institution would be made. The CVC would exercise the powers of a civil court, including powers to summon anybody, order police probe and provide security to the whistle-blower.