as per provision under Section 3 of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

In case a person, not being a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe, forces a member of SC/ST

1. to drink or eat any inedible or obnoxious substance;
2. to cause injury, insult or annoyance by dumping excreta, waste matter, carcasses or any other obnoxious substance in his premises or neighbourhood;
3. forcibly removes clothes or parades him naked or with painted face or body or commits any similar act which is derogatory to human dignity;
4. wrongfully occupies or cultivates any land owned by, or allotted to, or notified by any competent authority to be allotted to him transferred;
5. wrongfully dispossesses from his land or premises or interferes with the enjoyment of his rights over any land, premises or water;
6. compels or entices to do "begar" or other similar forms of forced or bonded labour other than any compulsory service for public purposes imposed by Government;
7. forces or intimidates not to vote or to vote a particular candidate or to vote in a manner other than that provided by law;
8. institutes false, malicious or vexatious suit or criminal or other legal proceedings;
9. gives any false or frivolous information to any public servant and thereby causes such as public servant to use his lawful power to the injury or annoyance;
10. intentionally insults or intimidates with intent to humiliate any place with in public view;
11. assaults or uses force to any woman with intent to dishonour or outrage her modesty;
12. being in a position to dominate the will of a woman and uses that position to exploit her sexually to which she would not have otherwise agreed;
13. corrupts or fouls the water of any spring, reservoir or any other source ordinarily used so as to render it less fit for the purpose for which it is ordinarily used ;
14. denies any customary right of passage to place of public resort or obstructs such member so as to prevent him from using or having access to a place of public resort to which other members of public or any section thereof have a right to use or access to;
15. forces or causes to leave his house, village or other place of residence.

Provisions of the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 relating to Untouchability

Provisions of the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 relating to Untouchability are as under:

Section 3- Preventing on the ground of untouchability

1. from entering any place of public worship, which is open to other persons professing the same religion of any section thereof, or
2. from worshipping or offering prayers or performing any religious service in any place of public worship, or bathing in, or using the waters of, any sacred tank, well, spring or water - course,(river or lake or bathing at any ghat of such tank, water-course, river of lake).

Section 4 - Enforcing on the ground of untouchability, any disability with regard to-

1. access to any shop, public restaurant, hotel or place of public entertainment; or
2. the use of any untensils and other articles kept in any public restaurant, hotel, dharm shala, sarai or musafirkhana for the use of the general public or
3. the practice of any profession or the carrying on of any occupation, trade or business (or employment in any job) or
4. the use of, or access to, any river, stream, spring, well, tank, cistern, water-tap or other watering place, or any bathing ghat, burial or cremation ground, any sanitary convenience, any road, or (passage, or any other place of public resort which other members of the public, or, have a right to use or have access to; or
5. the use of, or access to, any place used for charitable or a public purpose maintained wholly or partly out of State funds or dedicated to the use of general public or
6. the enjoyment of any benefit under a charitable trust created for the benefit of the general public ; or
7. the use of, or access to, any public conveyance; or
8. the construction, acquisition, or occupation of any residential premises in any locality, whatsoever; or
9. the use of any dharmshala, sarai or musafirkhana which is open to the general public, or
10. the observance of any social or religious custom, usage or ceremony or
11. the use of jewellery and finery;

Section 5 - Refusingr on the ground of 'untouchability'-

1. admission to any person to any hospital, dispensary, educational institution or any hostel if such hospitaldispensary, educational institution or hostel is established or maintained for the benefit of the general public or any section thereof;or
2. discriminates against any such person after admission to any of the aforesaid institutions;

Section 6 -Refusing on the ground of 'untouchability' to sell any goods or refuses to render any service to any person at the same time and place and on the same terms and conditions at or which such goods are sold or services are rendered to other persons in the ordinary course of business.

Section 7 (1)

1. Acting, on the gound of untouchability leading to prevention of any person from exercising any right accruing to him by reason of the abolition of 'untouchability' under Article 17 of the Constitution;or
2. molests, injures, annoys, obstructs or causes or attempts to cause obstruction to any person in the exercise of any such right or molests, injures, annoys or boycotts any person by reason of his having exercised any such rights; or
3. by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, incites or encourages any person or class of persons or the public generally to practise "untouchability" in any form whatsoever; or
4. insults or attempts to insult, on the ground of "untouchability" a member of a Scheduled Castes.

11,000 KV High Tension Wire Electrocutes Rajasthan Schoolboy

11,000 KV High Tension Wire Electrocutes Rajasthan Schoolboy

This is the picture of six-year-old Rithik who was going to school along with his friends in Jaisinghpura near Jaipur, Rajasthan on Wednesday. 

Due to callousness on the part of Electricity deparment, a 11,000 KV  high tension wire  suddenly broke overhead and fell on this boy, who was carrying his schoolbag and a can of water with him.  

The physical education teacher who was following him, suddenly caught hold of six other students and saved them from being electrocuted.  

Rithik, who lived in Italy Ki Dhani in Guwardi village near Jaisinghpura,  died on the spot.  

The electricity department junior engineer came to the spot two hours after the horrible incident. Hundreds of villagers demonstrated with Rithik’s body and the district administration assured action against those responsible for this tragedy.  

In another related incident on Wednesday,  35-year-old Sharda Devi Saini was bathing her eleven-year old son Lokesh on the roof  in Thikaria village near Bandikui, off Jaipur, when an 11,000 kv high tension wire fell on her. Sharda Devi died on the spot and Lokesh was sent to a Jaipur hospital in a critical condition.

Inspect answersheet

RTI Activist has been threatened of dire consequence by Govt. official in Bolangir, Orissa

Dear Friends 

Attack on RTI Activists gets rising day by day in Orissa. Mr.  Gopabandhu Chhatria, a BPL RTI Applicant  has been  threatened  of attack by Mr. Birendra Tripathy, SDO, Rural Works, Bolangir on 18.10.2011. In a complaint petition   addressed to Superintendent of Police, Bolangir on 24.10.2011, 
Mr. Chhatria has stated that he had submitted an application seeking information  about newly constructed building for Tahsil office located  before DEOgan Block from the PIO, office of SDO, Rural Works, Bolangir. Without providing information, Mr. Birendra Tripathy made a call from his mobile ( 9437150548)  to Chhatria       (9668523372)  and threatened him of dire consequence, if he  continued seeking information from his office.  Then he handed over his mobile to  a contractor who also scolded  Chhatria and asked him to refrain from accessing any information  from the said office. 

It needs to be mentioned here that Mr. Chhatria, Jarasingha, Dist-Bolangir had sought information about a newly constructed building for Tahasil office  in his area.  Though it was constructed a few months back, this building has  been cracked and water flowing  from the roof.  The work is substandard and getting  no use  for  the people. Apprehending corruption and irregularities in the fund allotted  for the said work,  Chhatria has sought  information to know the details of expenditure and sample of the building.    

Chhatria is yet to get any response from SP, Bolangir, as he shared in a meeting held in Bhubaneswar on 16.11.2011. It needs to be mentioned that last year, Chhatira was arrested by the local police and put behind bar  following a false FIR lodged  against him by the then BDO, Deogan Block  in 2009. His fault was that he had sought information about irregularities in construction of Check Dam.   

Regards 

Pradip Pradhan 

M-99378-43482  

Date-25.11.2011 

Misbehavior with RTI Activists

Subject: Need your advice and suggestion to restore my dignity and
self-respect

Dear Friends

On 14th of February 2011, I along with five others had been to Thakur munda
Police station, Mayurbhanj,  Odisha to collect some information as per the
section 4(1b) of the Right to Information Act 2005. Not only we were denied
the information but also severely humiliated by the Officer in-Charge (OIC)
of Thakurmunda  police station. The details are given below.

We, the following signatories, volunteers and RTI activists belonging to
Mayurbhanj district bring to your kind notice the following complaint
seeking your urgent intervention and remedial justice.

1)  That on 14.2.2011, we visited Thakurmunda Police Station to seek some
information, which are supposed to have been proactively disclosed and kept
ready for public inspection with effect from the 12th October 2005 as
mandated under Section 4 of Right to Information Act 2005. On reaching
there, we found the gate of Police Station closed. We informed the gate
keeper about the purpose of our visit. Requesting us to wait, she went
inside to consult the OIC and after a few moments she returned and opened
the gate  to ensure our entry to the  premises of the Police Station. We
went straight to meet Mr. Bhagawan  Jena, OIC and appraised him about the
purpose of our visit i.e.,  to get  some proactively disclosed information
under Section 4 of the RTI Act. The OIC suddenly got irritated and shouted
at us saying that no information was available in his office and asked us to
get out. We returned back from there in silence and empty handed.

2)  Then, when we were on the way back, a police jeep carrying SOG Jawans
reached  at us  and asked us  to  visit the police station again.The said
jeep carried us also to the police station and the Jawans put us
before the OIC, who immediately started hurling abusive words at us. When we
enquired to know about the reason of his misbehaviour, Mr. Jena suddenly
became furious and scolded us in an aggessive manner saying “bloody
nonsense, you are bloody Maoists, I will teach you a lesson” and the like.
Then he used these very words like “sala besi dekhei hauchha, netagiri
dekhauchha” For one hour at a stretch he continued his unruly and abusive
gestures and utterances against us. We were not allowed  to open our
mouth.We also could not understand why he dealth with us so savagely.



3)  When the OIC was at the peak of his infuriated rage against the group of
RTI users, Mr. Pradip Pradhan a prominent RTI Activist fromBhuaneswar and a
Trainer cum Resource Person on RTI reached the Police
Station accompanied by Mr. Jyotiram  Dash of jagatsinghpur and Mr. Brahmanad
Swain of Thakurmunda. When Mr. Pradip Pradhan was about to sit on a vacant
chair, the OIC Mr. Jena started abusing him with vulgar language. His words
were “You are a bloody nonsense; Who are you  to sit here? Is it decent to
sit before a police officer without permission? What is your academic
qualification? How dare you to sit before me like this? When Mr. Pradip
Pradhan started explaining him about the purpose of the visit  and asked him
to know about the arrangements made in the Police Station to provide the
information under RTI Act, the OIC irritatedly retorted, ‘Why shall we
provide the information? It is SP office, which should provide the
information? Who are you to ask for information? and so on and so forth. The
OIC also meted out similar kind of unruly misbehavour to Jyotiram Dash  and
Brahmanand Swain using abusive words and scolding them. The OIC also called
the SOG Jawans  to heckle Jyotiram Dash, but Mr.Dash vehemently protested
against it. Still one of the SOG Jawans physically  assaulted Jyotiram.
After scolding and threatening the RTI activists for abut an hour to his
fill, Mr.Jena the OIC’ asked us to leave the Police Station.



4)  The act of unruly misbehaviour by the OIC Thakurmunda towards the RTI
activists has  badly damaged our sense of dignity and self-respect as
citizens of India and also instilled into us a very scary feeling of fear,
threat and insecurity amongst us about our local police and police station.
We still continue to harbour an anxiety that  our life may be endangered by
the above Police Officer at any moment our of his deeply ingrained malice
and hatred against the cause of RTI and RTI activists.



5)  That we had recently come to know from the newspapers that the DG Orissa
Police issued a circular instructing all the Police Stations to put in place
Public Information Officers so as to provide information to the
public directly, and the Orissa High Court also closed the concerned PIL
following the apprisal to the Court by the State Government that the above
mentioned new arrangement has already been put in place and consequently the
members of the public are now in a position to avail the information under
RTI Act from each Police Station directly. But the way Mr.Jena, OIC
Thakurmunda misbehaved with RTI activists and flatly denied to provide
information to the visiting RTI users shows that he has nakedly violated the
instruction of DG Orissa Police and deserves therefore strong penal action
rom the Departmental authorities.

So, we request you to enquire into the matter and take appropriate
disciplinary action against the OIC Thakurmunda and ensure proper
arrangement to be put in place in the said Police Station to comply with the
request for information either under Section 4 or Section 6 of RTI Act 2005.

Thanking
Yours sincerely

Jyotiram Dash

At/Po..Puran

Dist..Jagatsinghpur

M-7894990463,  8895481388

Main Features of the RTE Act-2009

Main Features of the RTE Act-2009

 

The main features of the Act includes the provision that local authorities would identify school children above six years and provide them appropriate placement and support through special services. There would be 25% provision for children from weaker sections in private schools and no school can undertake screening for admission. Norms for minimum infrastructural facilities such as classrooms, boundary walls, etc, pupil teacher ratio, and qualifications within three years have also been prescribed. Constitution of School Management Committees is prescribed for all schools and their role in supporting and monitoring school performance through the development of School Development Plans has been directed. Each state was asked in 2010 to develop Model Rules in the first year for implementation of the Act and states were expected to undertake school mapping and household survey’s to identify all out-of-school children and maintain a record of all children with a special focus on hardest to reach children e.g. street and working children, children with disabilities, children in institutions etc. Neighbourhood schools were to be identified under the norm of primary schools within walking distance of one km and upper primary within a walking distance of three km of the neighbourhood. In the absence of a school in small hamlets, the state government has been instructed to make adequate arrangement like residential facilities and free transportation particularly for children with physical impairment to enable them to access schools easily.

 

The Act also focuses on quality aspects of education and school curriculums is required to focus on the all around development of the child; building up a child’s knowledge, ability and talent; learning through activities, discovery and exploration in a child friendly and child-centred manner. In order to provide child protection mechanisms the Act mandates that no child should be subjected to corporal punishment and mental harassment. Furthermore the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the respective State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights have been authorised to monitor the implementation of the Act, as well as act as a redressal cell.