CBI registers case in Shehla Masood murder case

CBI on Saturday filed a case relating to the murder of the RTI activist Shehla Masood who was shot dead outside her house in Bhopal. According to the CBI reports, the case has been registered against unnamed persons by Bhopal unit of the agency. The centre had later on received a letter from the Madhya Pradesh government  requesting for a CBI probe into the murder of Masood in Bhopal.

According to the sources, the Department of Personnel had received the letter last week from the State government.

Shehla Masood was shot dead when she was going towards her car parked outside her house in posh Koh-e-Fiza locality in Bhopal on August 16.

The Madhya Pradesh police, is likely to question the BJP politician Tarun Vjay in suspicion of the murder. Police could not trace out any motive behind the murder but suspected that she was eliminated by some powerful persons against whom she had filed RTI applications.

Shehla had earlier gone on a hunger strike in Bhopal in support of Anna Hazare. She was also involved in other causes such as wildlife conservation etc.

Sultan Masood, her father had said that he expected no justice, being a lower middle class person, and did not think that police were probing the case sincerely.

He alleged that in January this year, his daughter Shehla had filed a complaint with the Lokayukta that she feared threat to her life from senior IPS officer Pawan Srivastava.

News Reported by  AR for News vision

RTI activists attacked and killed

Empowering millions of citizens  through information, Right to information Act, introduced in 2005 gave new meaning to the moto seek and you shall find. On Tuesday, Bhopal-based activist Shehla Masood became the latest victim of a rising trend of attacks who tried to expose wrongdoings through the information disclosure law. In 2010 alone, atleast 10 RTI activists were killed, in fact in revenge attacks.

Masood was shot dead in broad daylight by unidentified assailants as she was getting into a car which was parked outside her house in Bhopal's Koh-e-Fiza neighbourhood. There were no immediate suspects but the police doubts that her campaign for wildlife and tiger conservation might have hurted some vested interests.

The killing came on a day when ten of thousands of people rallied across the country in support of Anna Hazare and his campaign for a stronger anti-graft law.

Masood was also enlisting support for Hazare in Bhopal. Her death has put the spotlight on the need for a  stronger regime to protect whistleblowers and RTI activists.

Sumaira Abdulali of MITRA, which is a campaign against intimidation and threats to rights activists, after every such incident, there are promises and press reports made by the government. Instead of gun-toting policemen for protection, we need an environment where ordinary citizens can take up issues without the fear of being attacked or killed.

The organisation had sent a letter to the home minister listing such assaults.

Besides physical attacks, RTI activists are strongly harassed and slapped with fraudulent cases to make sure they do not speak up.

Shekhar Singh, RTI activist and founder member of the National Campaign for people's Right to Information aid that the only deterrent against such attack is to quickly make public the information that the activist was trying to get out. When those with vested interests realise that such attacks will only expose them quicker, they will refrain from them.

News Reported by  AR for News Vision