Can't identify attacks on RTI activists, mediapersons, whistleblowers as human rights violations: Govt of India

By A Representative
The director-general (DG) of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Government of India, has declared that the bureau cannot revise the new template for capturing the number of murders of right to information (RTI) users, social activists, whistleblowers and mediapersons separately, in addition to the instances of grievous hurts, separately, so that these could be counted as human rights violations.
The DG, NCRB, who is a serving officer of the Indian Police Service (IPS), said this in reply to a letter written by Baijayant (Jay) Panda, Member of Parliament (MP) in the Lok Sabha from Odisha. Currently, there is no way of differentiating the thousands of other murders from these attacks on human rights activists.
Panda had simultaneously suggested that such information be passed on to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and also placed constitutional and statutory authorities for prompt remedial action. The NCRB’s reply is quiet about this as well.
Panda’s plea to the DG, NCRB followed senior activist Venkatesh Nayak’s insistence that the revised template the NCRB for capturing data of attack on mediapersons, whistleblowers, attack on RTI/social activists should not be counted as simple murders but as human rights violations. He had underlined, the country’s cops should be trained on how to differentiate the attack of these from ordinary murders and other crimes, otherwise it would not serve the desired purpose of finding out how human rights were being violated.
Nayak says, the NCRB reply to the MP – that “disaggregate data capture and disclosure is not a feasible proposition” – has come “awkwardly in the face of the NCRB's own record of capturing data about the motivation for murders presented in the Crime in India Reports year after year.”
A standard feature of such annual reports current records the following reasons for murder and culpable-homicide-not-amounting-to-murder along with the number of victims of such crime, namely ‘gain’, ‘property dispute’, ‘personal vendetta or enmity’, ‘dowry’, ‘witchcraft’, ‘child/human sacrifice’, ‘communalism’, ‘casteism’, ‘political reasons’, ‘honour killing’, ‘rape’, ‘gang rape’, ‘love affairs’, ‘illicit relationships’, ‘kidnapping and abduction’ and ‘class conflict’ and ‘lunacy.
Wonders Nayak, “So why is it so difficult to add four more categories, namely, ‘RTI activists’, ‘social activists’, ‘whistleblowers’ and ‘mediapersons’ in the monthly data collection template?”
As for sending this data month on month to authorities such as the NHRC and other similarly placed bodies, the NCRB replies that this would be difficult as such data is not regularly supplied by the states and union territories.
However, the NCRB has assured the MP that when the web-based Crime and Criminal Tracking and Networking and Systems – CCTNS – a mission mode project becomes fully functional, such sharing of information would be possible. Until then, the NCRB says, it would not be able to update the information on its website either.
Comments Nayak, this suggests, till CCTNS takes shape, “data about murders of RTI activists, social activists, whistleblowers and mediapersons will not become officially transparent.”
He asks, “When the NCRB has started the task of collecting monthly data on attacks on RTI users, social activists, whistleblowers and mediapersons, why should available data not be placed on its website?”
He adds, “It is most unfortunate that the NCRB has adopted a go-slow attitude towards the serious phenomenon of attacks on well meaning do-gooder citizens who are risking their lives every day to unearth and expose corruption, human rights violations and other kinds of wrong doing.”

Comments

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

India’s green energy push faces talent crunch amidst record growth at 16% CAGR

By Jag Jivan* A new study by a top consulting firm has found that India’s cleantech sector is entering a decisive growth phase, with strong policy backing, record capacity additions and surging investor interest, but facing mounting pressure on talent supply and rising compensation costs .

Beyond sattvik: Purity, caste and the politics of the Indian kitchen

By Rajiv Shah A few week ago, I was forwarded an article that appeared in the British weekly The Economist . Titled “Caste and cuisine: From honeycomb curry to blood fry: India’s ‘untouchable’ cooking”, it took me back to what I had blogged about what was called a “ sattvik food festival”, an annual event organised by former Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad professor Anil Gupta.

Search This Blog