Hyderabad: At least one in three RTI activists has faced personal threats, the study by Union department of personnel and training revealed.
The survey found that RTI activists faced several forms of abuse, which ranged from leering to threats to personal safety. About 38 per cent of activists said they had received threats and verbal abuse. About 22 per cent said they had faced physical abuse.
Data was collected from 50 RTI activists across the state. Mr Vakiti Madhubabu from Ranga Reddy district said an information officer had told him that the data he sought was with the road contractors. The officer said he would send notices to the contractors asking them furnish information sought by Mr Madhubabu.
This was considered as an indirect threat. Mr Jitender from Ranga Reddy district was attacked when he was working against the encroachment of a lake at Attapur here. Rajkumar Singh, of Save Our Urban Lakes, had a similar experience when he exposed a scam in the revenue department.
Mr Laxman from Karimnagar had to ask for police protection after the information he sought led to the exposure of a Rs 400-crore scam in crop compensation.
The story of Mr Venkatesh from Warangal is peculiar. After he started gathering data to prove land encroachment, a rumour in his village started blaming him for the cancellation of PDS cards. Each time a public work was halted, Mr Venkatesh was blamed and soon, he was forced to move to Hyderabad.
Chinta Krishna from Nalgonda, was pressurised by other means. Anganwadi teachers came to his home at 6pm and waited for him to withdraw an application he had filed under RTI.
Also, 66 per cent of activists complained of discrimination.Threatening RTI activists with SC/ST Atrocities Act was also noted. Twelve per cent of activists said they were facing false cases for seeking information or for publishing the information received through the RTI.
