Eleventh RTI activist hacked to death in Gujarat, as NHRC "waits" to send directions to state govt to provide security

By A Representative
With the gruesome murder of yet another Right to Information ((RTI) activist, Nanjibhai Sondarva (35), on March 9, 2018, a resident of Manekwada village in Kotada Sangani taluka of Rajkot district, the number of citizens and activists hacked to death for using RTI in Gujarat has risen to 11.
Bringing this to light, well-known RTI activist of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Venkatesh Nayak, has said, this is over and above at least 16 cases of assault on other RTI activists in Gujarat reported by various media sources since October 2005 when the RTI Act was operationalised.
Clubbed to death by six persons, Sondarva's father has claimed that the attack occurred soon after Nanjibhai filed an RTI application demanding transparency about funds spent on the construction of a road in his village.
According to Nayak, this was not the first time Nanjibhai had been attacked. He and other members of his family were assaulted one and a half years ago, by the village Sarpanch who was said to be furious at Nanjibhai for using RTI to expose financial irregularities in the developmental works undertaken in the village.
Meghabhai, Nanjibhai's father, has named the Sarpanch in the complaint submitted to the local police regarding the latest incident, says Nayak, adding, with this latest incident, the total number of victims, allegedly murdered for seeking information under RTI, across the country has gone up to 67.
Significantly, Nayak notes, the attack occurred three months after the National Human Human Rights Commsiion (NHRC) directive to the Gujarat Government to protect RTI activists.

Nanjibhai Sondarva

Calling the latest attack a reflection of the Gujarat model, he adds, in October, 2015, a day before the Central Information Commission organised a National Convention to celebrate 10 years of the RTI Act and which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister, another 30-year old RTI activist- Ratansinh Chaudhary was murdered for exposing financial irregularities through RTI in Banaskantha.
Pointing out that this prompting him to file a complaint with the NHRC, which took cognizance of it and followed up on this case for two years, Nayak said, in December 2017, while closing the case upon being satisfied that the police had acted in accordance with the law by sending the murder case up for trial, NHRC issued a directive to the Government of Gujarat.
The directive was, (1) that the family of the Late Ratansinh Chaudhary be provided security; and (2) the Government must ensure freedom of expression of RTI activists and HRDs (human rights defenders) and give them necessary protection as per law.
As the letter was addressed only to the District Superintendent of Police, Banaskantha, Nayak said, he alerted the NHRC's Focal Point for HRDs about the urgent necessity of sending a similar letter to the State Government, as the DSP, Banaskantha, would not be able to do much about ensuring security for RTI activists outside his jurisdiction.
While the HRD Focal Point promised to look into this discrepancy in the final action of the NHRC, the letter has still not reached the state, and another murderous attack has occurred in Gujarat.

Comments

Robin Shukla said…

Murders and encounters are terrible legacies of the state of Gujarat.

The Supreme Court of India itself has, in the past, expressed its doubts over local judiciary and administration when Modi was CM and Amit Shah his ever present companion and sidekick.
It is shameful that nothing has changed.

March 12, 2018

Covishield controversy: How India ignored a warning voice during the pandemic

Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD * It is a matter of pride for us that a person of Indian origin, presently Director of National Institute of Health, USA, is poised to take over one of the most powerful roles in public health. Professor Jay Bhattacharya, an Indian origin physician and a health economist, from Stanford University, USA, will be assuming the appointment of acting head of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA. Bhattacharya would be leading two apex institutions in the field of public health which not only shape American health policies but act as bellwether globally.

Growth without justice: The politics of wealth and the economics of hunger

By Vikas Meshram* In modern history, few periods have displayed such a grotesque and contradictory picture of wealth as the present. On one side, a handful of individuals accumulate in a single year more wealth than the annual income of entire nations. On the other, nearly every fourth person in the world goes to bed hungry or half-fed.

Thali, COVID and academic credibility: All about the 2020 'pseudoscientific' Galgotias paper

By Jag Jivan The first page image of the paper "Corona Virus Killed by Sound Vibrations Produced by Thali or Ghanti: A Potential Hypothesis" published in the Journal of Molecular Pharmaceuticals and Regulatory Affairs , Vol. 2, Issue 2 (2020), has gone viral on social media in the wake of the controversy surrounding a Chinese robot presented by the Galgotias University as its original product at the just-concluded AI summit in Delhi . The resurfacing of the 2020 publication, authored by Dharmendra Kumar , Galgotias University, has reignited debate over academic standards and scientific credibility.

The 'glass cliff' at Galgotias: How a university’s AI crisis became a gendered blame game

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan* “She was not aware of the technical origins of the product and in her enthusiasm of being on camera, gave factually incorrect information.” These were the words used in the official press release by Galgotias University following the controversy at the AI Impact Summit in Delhi. The statement came across as defensive, petty, and deeply insensitive.

'Serious violation of international law': US pressure on Mexico to stop oil shipments to Cuba

By Vijay Prashad In January 2026, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security—a designation that allows the United States government to use sweeping economic restrictions traditionally reserved for national security adversaries. The US blockade against Cuba began in the 1960s, right after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 but has tightened over the years. Without any mandate from the United Nations Security Council—which permits sanctions under strict conditions—the United States has operated an illegal, unilateral blockade that tries to force countries from around the world to stop doing basic commerce with Cuba. The new restrictions focus on oil. The United States government has threatened tariffs and sanctions on any country that sells or transports oil to Cuba.

When grief becomes grace: Kerala's quiet revolution in organ donation

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Kerala is an important model for understanding India's diversity precisely because the religious and cultural plurality it has witnessed over centuries brought together traditions and good practices from across the world. Kerala had India's first communist government, was the first state where a duly elected government was dismissed, and remains the first state to achieve near-total literacy. It is also a land where Christianity and Islam took root before they spread to Europe and other parts of the world. Kerala has deep historic rationalist and secular traditions.

When a lake becomes real estate: The mismanagement of Hyderabad’s waterbodies

By Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava* Misunderstood, misinterpreted and misguided governance and management of urban lakes in India —illustrated here through Hyderabad —demands urgent attention from Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), the political establishment, the judiciary, the builder–developer lobby, and most importantly, the citizens of Hyderabad. Fundamental misconceptions about urban lakes have shaped policies and practices that systematically misuse, abuse and ultimately erase them—often in the name of urban development.

From plagiarism to proxy exams: Galgotias and systemic failure in education

By Sandeep Pandey* Shock is being expressed at Galgotias University being found presenting a Chinese-made robotic dog and a South Korean-made soccer-playing drone as its own creations at the recently held India AI Impact Summit 2026, a global event in New Delhi. Earlier, a UGC-listed journal had published a paper from the university titled “Corona Virus Killed by Sound Vibrations Produced by Thali or Ghanti: A Potential Hypothesis,” which became the subject of widespread ridicule. Following the robotic dog controversy coming to light, the university has withdrawn the paper. These incidents are symptoms of deeper problems afflicting the Indian education system in general. Galgotias merely bit off more than it could chew.

Activists warn of gendered impact of VB-GRAMG Act, seek return to MGNREGA framework

By A Representative The All-India Feminist Alliance (ALIFA), along with the Agrarian Alliance and Workers’ Forum of the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), has written to President Droupadi Murmu urging her to call upon Parliament to repeal the newly enacted Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 (VB-GRAMG Act) and restore and strengthen the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

Search This Blog