Those who blow the whistle on corruption continue to faceharassment across the country. The latest such case has
surfaced in Ghaziabad.
An RTI activist has been in jail, allegedly on cooked up
charges, after he exposed the nexus between builders and officials of the
Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) to allow illegal construction in Shalimar
Garden.
Pawan Sharma, a garment retailer and resident of Shalimar
Garden-II, gathered details on the largescale unauthorised construction in the
area through a
series of RTI applications filed with the GDA. He then complained to various authorities against builders and GDA officials.
series of RTI applications filed with the GDA. He then complained to various authorities against builders and GDA officials.
Jail for blowing whistle.
He submitted photographs of the illegal buildings and also
mentioned the bribes charged by the GDA officials, including top officers, for
allowing such buildings to come up.
The authorities Sharma complained to regarding the state of
affairs included the district magistrate, the senior superintendent of police
(SSP), the Meerut divisional commissioner, Uttar Pradesh's home secretary and
even chief minister Mayawati.
And he paid the price for exposing the nexus. An FIR was filed
against him for extortion and criminal intimidation and he was sent to jail on
July 11. Earlier in April, too, the police had booked Sharma on the same
charges. He was to appear with his complaint, made on March 16, before the GDA
vice-chairman on April 13, but was "deceptively" arrested on April
11. He was called by the police for "talks" and was sent to jail
instead. He was later released on bail.
Sharma's wife Deepa alleged the police had taken bribe from the
builders to frame her husband. "My husband was worried that the lives of
hundreds of people were at risk. He wanted the government to take action
against the guilty officials and builders.
"On the evening of April 11, the police came and took him
along By Akash Vashishtha in Ghaziabad on the pretext of discussing the
complaints he had filed against the builders. But he did not return. He was
tortured by the police and sent to jail. The police took Rs.3 lakh from the builders
to jail him on false charges," Deepa alleged.
Sharma's lawyer said he has been in jail for more than three
weeks, though Section 21 of the RTI Act states that no person seeking
information through RTI can be booked in a criminal case. The UP Urabn Planning
& Development Act, 1973, also prohibits any criminal action against a person
filing an RTI application.
On Monday, social activist Rajendra Tyagi demanded a CBI inquiry
into the illegal construction atIndirapuram, Shalimar Garden, Kaushambi,
Vasundhara, Rajendra Nagar, Brij Vihar, Surya Nagar, Ramprastha and Rampuri.
"There is total anarchy. Those who raise their voice against
illegalities are put behind bars. Pawan Sharma is a patriotic RTI activist who
was singing Shaheed Bhagat Singh's songs while being taken to court,"
Tyagi said.
Ghaziabad SSP Raghubir Lal, however, justified Sharma's arrest.
"I ordered to file an extortion case against him after more than 40
builders approached me with the complaint that he was charging money from them.
He filed RTIs first and then approached the builders asking for money. He threatened
to expose them before the media if they did not pay," Lal said.
GDA vice-chairman Narendra Kumar Chaudhary, however, admitted the
officials could have connived to allow largescale unauthorised construction in
recent years.
"Some officials may be corrupt. We are identifying the
illegal under-construction buildings and action would be initiated against
them," he said.
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