Activist threatened for using RTI Ashok

Times of India, June 21, 2011
BHUBANESWAR: An activist has had his arm fractured in an attack and has been receiving fresh threats for exercising his right to use the right to information (RTI) act. Parameswar Sabar, a resident of Mahagaon village under Deogaon panchayat, has lodged a police complaint that he has been getting threats from some people, affected by his recent RTI application questioning details of ownership of a piece land, housing the village primary school. Earlier, Sabar had suffered a limb fracture in an alleged attack by individuals annoyed over his RTI application demanding details of a BPL list in the remote Kalahandi district village.


"I am even scared to go to the block headquarter at Kesinga or district headquarter of Bhawanipatna," said Sabar, at the Orissa information commission office here on Tuesday. Sabar said he cannot take the recent threats lightly because he has already suffered a fracture in his hand due to an earlier attack.

Earlier in June 2010, Sabar had filed an application under the RTI Act about the BPL list of their village and also filed a petition before the National Human Rights Commission that some families listed in the BPL list were not getting rice and other benefits meant for them. But before he got his RTI reply, Deogaon panchayat started disbursing rice to them from the same month.