Bihar: Seek information under RTI and land up in jail

From Anuja Sipre

PATNA, NOV 11 -- The Right to Information (RTI) Act has become more of a bane than a boon for the people of Bihar. Most of those who try to seek information under the Act end up landing in trouble for their 'daring act.'

The situation is such that the Hum Log Trust and the Bihar Right to Information Forum -- the bodies fighting for the cause of information-seekers under the RTI Act -- had to organize a 'people's court' to provide justice to the harassed people.

There were as many as 49 cases of harassment of people all across the state for seeking information under the RTI Act.

They narrated their tales of woes in the presence of Parveen Amanullah, joint convener of the Hum Log Trust and the Bihar Right to Information Forum, Arvind Kejriwal, Magsaysay award winner and activist, Prashant Bhushan, Supreme Court lawyer and civil rights activist, and Justice (retd) S N Jha, chairman of the Bihar State Human Rights Commission.

Kanchan Sahani, a BPL card holder belonging to an extremely backward class, had to spend 26 days in prison after he sought information about the construction of a house for his family under the Indira Awas Yojana.

A resident of Panapur village in Muzaffarpur district Sahani sought information about his house on November 6, 2006. But the police suddenly arrested him on August 6, 2007 and put him behind the bars in connection with a case of attempt to murder.

Sahni said he was later released on bail but only after being in prison for no reason at all. Similarly, Akalu of Bhabhua district was rendered homeless when he sought information about the Indira Awas Yojana from the BDO concerned. Amlesh Mahto of Raghopur also lost his house while trying to seek information about the Yojana.

A physically challenged Birendra Kumar Sah, 40, of Pir Maker village in Saran district, suddenly found himself being implicated in a murder case. His 'crime' was that he had dared to seek information about the proposed appointment of 50 teachers from the officials concerned under the Right to Information Act.

Birendra said he had submitted an application seeking information about the appointment of 50 teachers in his block on July 10, 2007. But instead of providing information, the mukhiya named him in a murder case in August last year. It was only after the intervention of the Hum Log Trust that the district magistrate of Saran stayed the 'false' case against him.

Arvind Kejriwal said that Bihar had earned laurels for implementing the Right to Information Act ahead of many other states but it is unfortunate that the information-seekers are being harassed in the state which became a pioneer in arming the people with the right to information.

S N Jha stated that the commission had asked the chief secretary to take action against the officials who are harassing people for seeking information and submit his report within four weeks.

Prashant Bhushan was of the opinion that the 'dominance' of the bureaucracy in the state information commission has played a negative role in the implementation of the RTI Act.