Skip to main content

Gujarat whistleblower's murder: State government "created circumstances" for the gruesome incident

By Our Representative
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), India’s premier human rights organinization, has alleged the Gujarat government not only failed to protect the Banskantha district’s right to information (RTI) activist and whistleblower Ratansinh Chaudhary last month, but actually “created circumstances” that led to his murder.
A PUCL investigation team, which visited the village to which Chaudhary, an other backward caste (OBC) community, belonged, said, with his murder, the total number of whistleblowers which have so far been murdered has reached 11. Others who are been murdered are Amit Jethva, Nadeem Saiyad, Vishram Dodiya, Jabar Dan Gadhvi, Amit Kapasiya, Shailesh Patel, Rayabhai Gohil, Ketan Solanki, Jayesh Barot, and Yogesh Shekhar.
A PUCL report released to the media said, Chaudhary first sent their complaint to the Chief Minister on October 7, 2015 through fax and later by post” about “misappropriation” of flood relief funds. As per routine, the complaint was transferred to the lower level on October 12.
On the very same day, an RTI application was filed by Chaudhary. Instead of taking any action, the administration leaked the information to vested interests of the village. “The accused attacked Chaudhury saying that he was lodging complaints against them and he was murdered”, the PUCL said.
The fact-finding team, consisting of Jatin Sheth of PUCL, Pankti Jog of Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel, Mahesh Pandya of Paryavaran Mitra, Nita Mahadev of Gujarat Lok Samiti, Meenakshi Joshi of Movement for Secular Democracy, visited the village in Suigam taluka of Banaskantha district, where massive floods invaded large number of villages during the monsoon.
In his complaint, Chaudhary had insisted that the chief minister should to withdraw all the relief amounts paid to people due to heavy corruption, and carry out re-survey, as the relief had not reached to genuinely affected persons, “and if reached, it was pretty small amount”. He had added, only “influential persons” had “grabbed cheques of big amounts, and that, too, in the different names of the same family.”
The report said, what was also shocking was that, while two of the four accused in the murder of Chaudhary had been arrested, they were already out on bail, suggesting how seriously the Gujarat government’s investigation agencies are taking the case of the murder of a whisteblower.
The report further said, RTI reply to PUCL suggested that the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA), Gujarat’s premier anti-disaster body, had “no plans” to save the lives of people trapped in flooded areas of not just Banaskantha and other affected districts Surendranagar and Amreli.
“The information received by Jatin Sheth (PUCL) through his RTI application reveals that there was no advanced planning. The answers to various questions are ‘we have zero information’! Amreli district had only one boat for rescue of people, and that too was out of order”, the report said.
The PUCL further said, “No information of relief fund survey is available online as the information is not displayed on any of the websites of the government, including the state government, the district collector and so on”, though this should have been as part of voluntary disclosure under the RTI Act.
“The questions such as who received what relief amount, what were the parameters fixed for survey team, what to do and whom to approach in case of injustice, how many days it will take to resolve the complaint lodged etc. remain unanswered till date”, the report said.

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

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

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative 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".

Sections of BSF, BGB personnel 'directly or indirectly' involved in cross border smuggling

By Kirity Roy*  The Border Security Force (BSF) of India and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) of Bangladesh met for 54th Director General level meeting at Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 5th to 9th March, 2024 to discuss on minimizing killings at border area, illegal intrusion, trafficking of drugs and other narcotics, smuggling of arms and ammunitions and other crimes at bordering areas. Further, the summit had an agenda to discuss on overall development in 150 yards area at both sides of the border and design an activity plan for the same.