It cannot be denied that the Right to Information (RTI) Act has brought about a revolution of sorts in India. But
the very act of seeking information is often met with stiff resistance, and
sometimes expletives, from an intransigent bureaucracy that refuses to lay
itself open to scrutiny.
For Brijesh Kumar, it came as a rude shock when, in response to a
query made in an RTI request to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), he
received the reply: "Tu ch** ia hai".
Kumar had sought details about the MCD's management of solid
waste. He was stunned when he saw this reply when he logged in to check the
status of his RTI request on August 2. He had filed the RTI query through the
MCD's newly constituted online mechanism on July 14.
His first query had been answered by a superintendent engineer of
the MCD with the cuss words: "Tu ch** ia hai ." The rest of the nine
questions, Kumar alleged, did not have a satisfactory reply either.
"Is this how the MCD runs its business? I cannot believe the
civic body can reply in such a foul manner. I have been in constant mental
agony and depression since I read the RTI reply," a shocked Kumar said.
When contacted, MCD officials said they had started an
investigation into the possible hacking of the corporation's website after an
abusive message was posted in reply to a query on its RTI portal.
"The regrettable and illegal act has been done by some mischievous
and unknown person who appears to have access to the system through the use of
a default login ID and password, and not by ' hacking' of the website,"
Deep Mathur, MCD director (press and information), said.
"Steps have been taken to avert recurrence of such incidents
and investigations have been initiated to bring the culprit to book,"
Mathur added.
The MCD has also reportedly approached the Delhi Police's economic
offences wing (EOW) and registered a case. A police inquiry into the matter is
expected to start soon.
"Today (Tuesday) we went and met the additional commissioner
(EOW) of the Delhi Police. We have given him the details of the entire case and
requested them to take up the matter and identify the guilty," Mathur
said. On his part, Kumar said he was not as much hurt by the MCD's reply as by
its indifference.
"The question of who replied to the RTI is secondary; the
primary response of the MCD should have been an apology. Despite having my
address and number, they haven't even contacted me for a probe, let alone an
apology," Kumar, a resident of Dwarka, said.
This is not the first time the MCD has reacted in such a manner.
For an RTI request filed a few years ago seeking details of construction of a
site in Shahdara, the applicant was threatened with dire consequences.
Mohit Sharma, the victim, alleged that on March 12 last year,
MCD's executive engineer BMN Rao, assistant engineer Umesh Singh and one more
person came to his home in Dilshad Garden around 1 pm and threatened him.
"Umesh Singh told me that I was playing with fire and it
could harm me. He added that no one can survive after clashing with the MCD
officials. They threatened to demolish my house and my brother's shop,"
Sharma said.
The Delhi Police had registered a case. Sharma had also complained
to the chief information commissioner (CIC) about the threat. Information
commissioner Shailesh Gandhi had written to the then police commissioner Y. S.
Dadwal regarding the allegation of the RTI applicant.
In the latest case, Dwarka Forum, an NGO of which Brijesh is a
member, has filed a complaint with the CIC about the matter.
"We have already lodged a complaint with the commission.
Information commissioner Gandhi has taken cognisance of the same," Anoop
Rohera, secretary of the Dwarka Forum, said.
Threat & abuse are
MCD'S answer
- Brijesh Kumar, a Dwarka resident, filed an online RTI
application with the MCD on July 14, seeking details about the agency's
solid waste management.
- On August 2, he logged in to check the status of his
queries. He had received the reply. But in response to the very first
query, an MCD superintendent engineer had posted an expletive.
- Dwarka Forum, an NGO Brijesh works with, has filed a
complaint with the CIC.
- MCD claimed the abusive reply was posted on its website
by some mischievous element using default login ID and password. It
claimed to be investigating the matter.
- MCD spokesperson said the agency has registered a case
with the Delhi Police.
- Last year, two MCD engineers had allegedly threatened
an RTI applicant, Mohit Sharma, who had sought details of a construction
site at Shahdara. Sharma, too, had complained to the CIC and the police.
No comments:
Post a Comment