Miscarriage of Justice: Fighting Corruption with RTI, leads to conviction in 20 year old false case
The MKSS is shocked
and dismayed to receive the judgment of the Munsif Magistrate Court,
Kishengarh, Ajmer convicting senior activists Nikhil Dey, Naurti, Ram Karan,
Babulal and Chotu Lal Malakar of trespass and simple hurt under sections 323
and 451 of the IPC. The judgment comes on 13 June
2017 in an incident which took place on 6th of May 1998.
The decision of the
court pertains to an incident which occurred when the RTI activists made a
demand for information from the local Sarpanch in response to large number of
complaints of corruption in development works in Harmara Panchayat. The
corruption allegations were against Sarpanch - Pyarelal - a liquour contractor
of the village. These included payments for toilets, Indira Awaas houses, and
labour payments for development works, that had not been made to the
beneficiaries.
This case is yet
another reminder of the backlash and attack that RTI activists consistently
face when challenging entrenched centers of power. On the 6th of May
1998, the activists went to ask for information from the Sarpanch of Harmara,
carrying with them a letter from the BDO. Since his office was usually closed
during working hours, the activists went to his house to deliver the letter
from the BDO. It is then that the Sarpanch came out of his house and physically
assaulted the activists present.
Despite this violence,
the MKSS activists decided not to file an FIR, thinking that Right to
Information cannot depend on police cases, and that it had to depend on
dialogue with the Sarpanch and the exercise of a legal right under the
Panchayati Raj Act. However, on the same day, Aruna Roy of the MKSS
wrote to the Collector noting the incident and asking that the Collector to
ensure that information would be given by the Sarpanch.
On the 8th May the
Sarpanch filed an FIR accusing the activists of assaulting him. On the same day
Naurti, disturbed by his slurs and violence towards her, had also filed a case
against him under the SC/ST revention of Atrocities Act. The case filed by the Sarpanch was closed on the 30th of June 1998 and for
several years, nothing happened. On 5th July 2001, the very same case was
revived once again. Since then the case has carried on with the Sarpanch
producing false witness, after false witness. On the 6th of May 1998
when the activists were assaulted for asking the Sarpanch for information,
there was no one there apart from them and the Sarpanch and his immediate
family members. The FIR lodged by his brother Om Prakash, claims he was not
present.
Today, 19 years after
the FIR was filed, Nikhil, Naurti, Ram Karan. Babulal and Chotu Lal have been
convicted in an utterly false case filed by the a corrupt powerful Sarpanch who
misused his influence and power and who had himself physically assaulted them
for demanding information in a case where the activists were
fighting for the rights of the poor, through means that were
completely within the ambit of the law. The process of this case that has
continued for almost two decades, and the final decision, is a body blow to the
effort of citizens to fight corruption and stand up for the rights of the
citizen. It is a clear case of miscarriage of justice. We are deeply
disappointed by the verdict.
The sentence has been
suspended pending an appeal to be filed by the four activists in the ADJ Court
of Kishengarh. The MKSS will leave no stone unturned to bring out the whole
truth of this case, and along with the transparency and accountability movement
in the country, will not allow vested interests to misuse the law to suppress
the voice of people demanding transparency, and demands for justice by the
poor.
- Aruna Roy and the
MKSS
