The Centre admitted on Thursday that people trying to expose corruption with the help of the Right to Information (RTI) Act were facing harassment.
In response to a query whether the government knew about increasing threats to people using RTI against corruption, minister of state in the prime minister’s office (PMO), Prithviraj Chavan, told parliament, “Yes, reports have appeared in the media about the threats. The Central Information Commission (CIC) has received some complaints of harassment from citizens for filling applications under the RTI Act.” Chavan gave a list of seven such complaints received by CIC.
DNA had recently reported about Manish Bhatnagar who started receiving threats after he sought information related to the CBI chief. Chavan said, “CIC has probed these complaints and passed appropriate orders.”
On a query on what mechanism was in place for safeguarding interests of RTI activists, he said: “Legal mechanisms of IPC and CrPC Acts are available for handling case of harassment and threat.”