Monday, February 28, 2011

જેઠવા કેસમાં હાઈકોર્ટની પૃચ્છાઃ દીનુ બોઘા સોલંકી સામે તપાસ થઈ છે કે કેમ ?

Sandesh gujarati news paper 01/03/2011


અમદાવાદતા.૨૮
અમિત જેઠવા હત્યા કેસની તપાસમાં રાજ્ય સરકાર ઈરાદાપૂર્વક દીનુ બોઘાની તપાસ નથી કરતી તેવી ફરિયાદ સાથે આ આખી તપાસ સીબીઆઈને સોંપવા જે પિટિશન થઈ તેમાં આજે હાઈકોર્ટે રાજ્ય સરકારને આ અંગે સઘળી માહિતી સોગંદનામા પર રજૂ કરવા મૌખિક સૂચના આપી હતી.
આ પિટિશન પર થયેલી સુનાવણી દરમિયાન અમિત જેઠવાના પિતા ભીખુભાઈ જેઠવા તરફથી એવી રજૂઆત કરવામાં આવી હતી કે ક્રાઈમ બ્રાન્ચે જે ચાર્જશીટ સુપરત કર્યું છે તેમાં અમિત જેઠવાની હત્યાના આરોપી શિવા સોલંકીને દર્શાવ્યો છે. જે જૂનાગઢના સાંસદ અને સત્તાધારી પક્ષના અગ્રણી નેતા દીનુ બોઘા સોલંકીનો ભત્રીજો છે. વળીજ્યારે ભીખુભાઈએ મૂળ પિટિશન કરી હતી ત્યારે જ એવી આશંકા વ્યક્ત કરી હતી કેરાજ્યની એકપણ તપાસ સંસ્થા દીનુ બોઘાની તપાસ નહીં કરે. બીજી તરફઅમિત જેઠવાના તમામ પરિવારજનોએ છેલ્લાં ત્રણ વર્ષથી વારંવાર ફરિયાદો કરી હતી કે દીનુ બોઘા તરફથી તેમને ધમકીઓ મળે છે. અમિત જેઠવાની હત્યા થઈ તેના બે વર્ષ પૂર્વે તેના પર હુમલો પણ કરાવવામાં આવ્યો હોવાનો આક્ષેપ થયો હતો. આ સંજોગોમાં આ નેતાની પૂર્ણ સંડોવણી હોવાની આશંકા વ્યક્ત કરવામાં આવી હતી.
દરમિયાન જ્યારે ક્રાઈમ બ્રાન્ચે હત્યાના મુખ્ય આરોપી તરીકે શિવા સોલંકી સામે ચાર્જશીટ કરી છે તે પણ સૂચવે છે કેશિવા સોલંકીના જ ભત્રીજા સુધી તપાસ કરીને આ તપાસ પાછી વળી ગઈ હતી. પરિણામેભીખુભાઈએ તેમની પિટિશનમાં વ્યક્ત કરેલી શંકા સાચી પુરવાર થઈ હોવાનો આજે દાવો કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો.
જેના આધારે જસ્ટિસ એ.એલ. દવે અને જસ્ટિસ આર.એમ. છાયાની ખંડપીઠે રાજ્ય સરકારને એવી પૃચ્છા કરી હતી કેશું ક્રાઈમ બ્રાન્ચ દીનુ બોઘા સોલંકી સામે કોઈ તપાસ કરી છે ખરી,અને જો કરી હોય તો તે ક્યાં સુધીની છે અને ન કરી હોય તો કેમ નથી કરી તે વિષે સંપૂર્ણ માહિતી એક સોગંદનામા સ્વરૂપે કોર્ટમાં સુપરત કરવાની મૌખિક સૂચના આપી હતી.
 

Saturday, February 26, 2011

In fallen Jethava’s Kodinar, locals rise to hold fort

TheIndianExpress 25/02/2011 by Hiral Dave


“This land is the only thing we can call ours. How can we just let it get ruined by industrial pollution?” asks 24-year-old fresh BSc graduate Mayur Parmar, pointing at his farm located a stone’s throw away from Arabian Sea in south and reserved forest area in the north, at Kaj village in Kodinar taluka of Junagadh district.
This is now site for proposed thermal power station and a jetty by Shapporji Pallanji Energy (Gujarat) Limited.
Mayur claims that to prevent him from raising the same question at the environment clearance public hearing for project held in November 2010, he was threatened by Junagadh BJP MP Dinu Solanki’s man. Later, he was manhandled, he claimed, by Solanki’s men and not allowed to speak at all at the hearing presided over by district collector A M Parmar.
Requesting a re-hearing, Mayur and 43 other farmers from Kaj, Sarkhadi, Chhar, Valen and Kodinar have joined hands with social activist Balu Socha and have since filed a PIL at the Gujarat High Court. The PIL lists alleged obstructive roles of both the MP and the district collector. It says the MP spoke openly in favour of the project while the collector did not allow many farmers who wanted to raise objections to speak . The power plant has been proposed at Kaj village and the site for jetty to import coal is to come up at Chhara village. The distance between these two is about three kms.
This second PIL from the small town of Kodinar comes less than a year after environment and RTI activist Amit Jethava was murdered allegedly at the behest of Solanki’s nephew Shiva for raising the issue of rampant illegal mining at Gir Wildlife Sanctuary and Kodinar border through a PIL.
The natural resources like forest and mines in the area, the locals say, have been exploited for years under protection from political leadership. In 1982 came Ambuja Cement, followed by Siddhi Cement and then GHCL at Sutrapada. The villagers say illegal mining sites to provide limestone to cement factories have mushroomed. Many are owned by Solanki and his family members.
For long before Jethava lost his life, lawlessness has reigned in Kodinar. The slain activist had sought to know, through an RTI query to police, the reasons behind 20 suspicious deaths during 1991 to 2007 in Kodinar. Dhirsinh Barad, who won Kodinar Assembly by-election in 2009 after Junagadh incumbent BJP MP Dinu Solanki vacated the seat, had even written a letter in 2004 to the then Governor Naval Kishor Sharma, demanding reopening of 11 closed cases alleging direct involvement of Solanki.
Between 2000 to 2009, as many as six cases with serious charges against have been registered with Kodinar police against Pratap alias Shiva Solanki . These range from assault to attempt to murder, but five cases have been closed due to lack of evidence while the sixth is against unidentified persons though complainants claimed to have named Shiva.
Like Jethava, Mayur and his associates Ranjitsinh Parmar (35) and Balu Socha too fear for life. But this time, a group of farmers are united. “We do get calls from unknown numbers and unknown people threatening us to end agitation. But we are ready to face anything,” says Ranjitsinh.
They have done their homework well. Mayur would spend hours on the Internet, finding environment laws and rules to compare them with the project proposal for Shapporji Pallanji Energy (Gujarat) Limited.
“Project report says it will need 4.5 million tonnes of milestone. However, it doesn’t mention from where it will be procured. Besides, once the plant starts functioning, noise pollution in the area is likely to go up to 90db(a), which is even higher than 75db(a) for industrial area. One km from the power station site is the reserved forest area, where Asiatic Lions come during summer. In fact, connecting kaccha road between coal jetty and thermal power plant is transitory route for Asiatic Lions,” says Mayur, adding that “within 9-km radius, there are five bandaras (water bodies) that supply irrigation water to several villages in taluka”.
A Coastal Area Environment Protection Committee has been formed to create awareness. The committee has a representative each each various communities including the Rajputs, Kolis and Muslims who inhabit the five affected villages. After group’s voice was allegedly suppressed at the public hearing in November 2010, several meetings with villagers were conducted by the representatives. By January 24, farmers were coming forward to become petitioners.
Popat Barad, a 70-year-old farmer from Chhara, says, “They (company) asked me to sell off my 150 bighas of land. They offered me Rs. 5 lakh per bigha. But my question is what will I do after selling off my land?” Barad says he reaps crops worth Rs. 5 lakh per season and grows several crops including coconut, groundnut, wheat and sunflower.
Balu Socha, who also runs Samudra Surakha Sangh for fishermen, is one of the petitioners. “It is too difficult to get agricultural land somewhere else once a farmer sells his ancestral land,” he says.
Together, now they are waiting for the PIL outcome.
Despite repeated attempts, Solanki could not be contacted.






Thursday, February 24, 2011

RTI activist's killing sets off row in Rajya Sabha

sify 24/02/2011


New Delhi, Feb 24 (IANS) Question hour in the Rajya Sabha ended five minutes before time Thursday following noisy scenes when a Congress MP alleged a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in Gujarat was involved in the killing of RTI activist Amit Jethva.
Asking supplementaries on a question on the Right to Information (RTI), Congress MP from Gujarat Alka Balram Kshatriya alleged that a nephew of the BJP MP from Junagadh was involved in the killing of RTI activist Amit Jethva.
The allegation led to a huge uproar from opposition MPs. As the protests turned noisy, Chairman Hamid Ansari announced the question hour over at 11.55 a.m., five minutes before its usual time of 12 noon.
Amit Jethva was killed in July last year, a few days after he filed a public interest litigation (PIL) against illegal mining in the protected Gir sanctuary in Junagadh district. He had made Junagadh's BJP MP Dinu Solanki as one of the respondents.
Solanki's nephew Pratap alias Shiva Solanki has been named as one of the prime accused in the illegal mining in the Gir, the last habitat of the Asiatic lions.


Upset over the "unbecoming behaviour" of some members, Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari today abruptly ended the Question Hour five minutes before schedule after Congress and BJP members clashed over an RTI issue.

Trouble began when Alka Balram Kshatriya (Cong) said the Right to Information Act is not being properly implemented in BJP-ruled Gujarat and referred to the arrest of a BJP MP's kin in RTI activist Amit Jethwa murder case.

Soon, members from BJP were on their feet accusing the Congress member of raising non-related issues.

When Kshatriya insisted on her right to ask the question, BJP members including the party's Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha S S Ahluwalia and Ravi Shankar Prasad objected strongly.

All the while, Congress members Prabha Thakur, Viplove Thakur and Mabel Rebello kept standing in support of Kshatriya and countering the BJP members and further clarifications could not be sought.

As the din continued, an angry Ansari ended the Question Hour.

When some members wanted to know why the Question Hour was being curtailed, Ansari said he was doing so because of the rumpus created by the "unbecoming behaviour" of some senior members.

Monday, February 21, 2011

જેઠવાની હત્યા માટે શિવાએ શૈલેષનો સંપર્ક કરાવ્યો હતો Feb 21,2011

Sandesh Gujarati


અમદાવાદતા.૨૦
આરટીઆઈ એક્ટિવિસ્ટ અમિત જેઠવા મર્ડર કેસમાં ક્રાઈમ બ્રાંચે મેટ્રોપોલિટન મેજિસ્ટ્રેટ ડી. એસ. ત્રિવેદીની કોર્ટમાં પુરવણી ચાર્જશીટ રજૂ કરી છે. જેમાં ઉલ્લેખ છે કેઅપહરણના ગુનામાં ફરાર શીવા પચાણે જેઠવાની હત્યા માટે શૈલેષ પંડયાનો સંપર્ક કરાવ્યો હતો. ચાર્જશીટમાં કુલ ૧૫૧ સાક્ષીના નિવેદનો લેવાયાં છે.
ક્રાઇમ બ્રાન્ચે રજૂ કરેલા ૪૦૦થી વધુ પાનાની આ પુરવણી ચાર્જશીટમાં મુખ્ય આરોપી તરીકે શાર્પશૂટર શૈલેષ પંડયાને દર્શાવ્યો છે. જેમાં જૂનાગઢના બહાદુર ધીરુભા વાઢેરપચાણ ગોપાલભાઈ ઉર્ફે શીવાભાઈ દેસાઈસંજય ચૌહાણ અને પ્રતાપ ઉર્ફે શીવા સોલંકી સામે ૩૦૨,૨૦૧૧૨૦- બી તથા આર્મ્સ એક્ટની કલમ ૨૫ (૧) હેઠળ ગુનો નોંધી તપાસ હાથ ધરી છે. ચાર્જશીટમાં જણાવ્યા મુજબ બહાદુર વાઢેર અને શીવા સોલંકી સૌરાષ્ટ્રમાં ખાસ કરીને ગીરમાં ખાણ વેચાણે લઈ ખનન કરવાનો અને ગેરકાયદે જમીનો રાખી સેલ ફોનના ટાવરો ઊભા કરવાનો ધંધો કરતા હતા. તેમના ધંધામાં આરટીઆઈની અરજીઓ દ્વારા નડતરરૃપ થતા અમિત જેઠવાના મર્ડર માટે તેમણે કાવતરુ રચ્યુ હતું. ત્યાર બાદ બંનેએ જેઠવાની હત્યા માટે પચાણ ગોપાલ ઉર્ફે શીવા દેસાઈનો સંપર્ક કર્યો હતો.
 

Thursday, February 17, 2011

His son fallen, Jethava’s father rises to dare

TheIndianExpress 1 DEC 2010

Bhikha Jethava, father of slain RTI activist Amit Jethava, is now leading a protest against two upcoming industrial projects in Kodinar on the periphery of Gir Wildlife Sanctuary.
Bhikha, a footwear merchant in Khambha village of Amreli district has written a letter to Union Minister of Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh in this regard.
He has said the Simar Port Ship Yard at Chahara village and
Shapurjee Palonjee Thermal Power plant project at Kaaj village will prove disastrous to wildlife in the sanctuary.
“The Kodinar coastal forest is located under Jamvala forest range of Gir. Nearly 100 Asiatic lions are found on this belt, which will be in proximity to the proposed sites of the two projects. Industrial activities in the area will adversely affect the environment,” said Bhikha.
He said he is yet to get all the details of the projects, but is still raising the issue, as the site selection process is already over.
He added: “I have to take forward the mission that my son started. He sacrificed his life for wildlife and environment conservation. Now I am doing my bit.”
Bhikha is, however, not associated with the Gir Nature Youth Club (GNYC) founded by Amit. In a short span of few years, GNYC has successfully created awareness about wildlife and environment in Saurashtra.
“Amit’s friends and associates are now running GNYC. I have decided to work alone,” said Bhikha.
Amit (32) was shot dead from point blank range opposite the
Gujarat High Court in Ahmedabad on July 20, a few days after he had filed a PIL in the HC against alleged illegal mining activities in the periphery of Gir.
The Ahmedabad Crime Branch has arrested Pratap Solanki, nephew of Junagadh BJP MP Dinu Solanki in connection with the murder.

Slain RTI activist’s aides take his fight to political battlefield

TheIndianExpress 18 oct 2010

Kodinar, where slain activist Amit Jethava led a campaign to create awareness about the Right to Information (RTI), this powerful democratic tool and its use has become an agenda against the BJP in the local body elections slated for October 21.
Jethava’s two close aides, who say they also had to face the wrath of the rich and powerful for exposing corruption in the system, are in the fray for the Kodinar taluka panchayat elections on Congress tickets. And their main election issue: fight for your rights.
If Jethava had used the RTI Act to unearth illegal mining under alleged patronage of BJP MP Dinu Solanki, activists Bhika Gohil and Dipu Wala blew the lid off a scam in a housing scheme for poor and how local authorities of Pashcim Gujarat Vij Limited turned a blind eye to alleged misuse of its infrastructure by the kin of the MP in Kodinar.
According to Gohil, Solanki’s nephew Pratap alias Shiva Solanki — who is presently in judicial custody in connection with the Jethava murder case — had attacked and abducted him when an RTI application by the former proved that towers for cellphone networks installed by the latter were illegal.
Gohil said he was was hospitalised for two months in 2004 following an attack allegedly by Shiva and his supporters, adding that the near-fatal attack on him and the murder of Jethava has only strengthened his will to contest a political battle. “Either we suffer or we fight. That’s the only two options available with us,” said Gohil, who will be contesting from the Mul Dwarka seat.
He has been a Congress worker for over five years now and this will be his maiden election. “I tell voters (while campaigning) that if they will not fight for their rights, nobody will and that they will remain at the receiving end of the corrupt system,” said Gohil, whose wife Hansa is sarpanch of their village Gohil Ni Khan.
The voters might believe the words of this 32-year-old as recently — after he exposed corruption in the Indira and Sardar Aawas Yojana — the directorate of Jilla Gam Vikas Niyamak issued notices against 264 people, including Kodinar taluka development officer M C Makwana.
Dipu Vala (45), a teacher by profession, has also jumped into the fray for the Pipavan panchayat seat. Locals know him as the one who exposed Shiva for allegedly using PGVCL poles for his private cable network.
Little wonder that Jethava has been featuring extensively in the campaigns of Gohil and Vala. “People knew Jethava. And, after his murder, he has become a martyr. We want voters not to let his deeds go in vain,” said Gohil.
A BJP stronghold, winds of change in Kodinar were observed first in 2009 when Congress candidate Dhirsinh Barad won a by-election.

how Dinu Solanki threats people


local leader waves a CD on Junagadh MP’s ‘threat’ call to him


Dinu Solanki had allegedly called up Koli Sena president this January to warn him
Junagadh BJP MP Dinu Solanki had allegedly threatened to kill the Koli Sena president from Kodinar and had abused his family after the latter reportedly beat up one of his kin. The victim claims to have recorded the MP’s “threat” call.
Solanki has been mired in controversy following the murder of RTI activist Amit Jethava. Solanki's nephew and business partner Shiva Solanki is a suspect in the murder case, and the Ahmedabad Crime Branch has been on his trail for a week now.
“Mari upper bhale 302 thai. Mare ek varash jail ma rehvu pade kai das varash. Haria tu mara thi bachi nahi sake. Tare Kodinar ma rehvu che ne? Tane koi nahi bacahvi sake.(Let me get charged under 302 of IPC. I may get jailed for a year or 10 years. But Haria, no one can save you from me.
Do you want to live in Kodinar? Nobody can save you,” the MP said, according to complainant Haresh Damania.
Damania said the MP used abusive and foul language against his family members. “Solanki had been threatening me saying I have beaten up his sister's son Hiteshsinh. When he called up on January 25, 2010, I recorded the conversation.”
“First, I went to Kodinar police, but they did not take my complaint. I then approached the SP office, but no action was taken on my application,” Damania added.
With the help of sitting Kodinar Congress MLA Dhirsinh Barad, the tape was played before then State Home Minister Amit Shah, but nothing happened, he alleged.
In the last eight months, two cases have been registered against Damania – one of loot and the other of hampering peace.
Barad said: “As the local police did not act, I took the tape to the then home minister Amit Shah, but no action was taken. Leave alone the local police, even the state government refused to take any complaint against Solanki.
Solanki was unavailable for comment.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Accused denied bail in Jethava murder case

The Times of India, 15th Feb, 2011

A city sessions court on Monday refused bail to Shiva Solanki, the main accused in the murder of RTI activist Amit Jethava. Solanki, along with five others, have been arrested in the case. Jethava had opposed the illegal mining activity by BJP MP Dinu Solanki in Gir sanctuary. Shiva is nephew of the BJP MP. 

Friday, February 11, 2011

Big money matters - finally


Amit Jethwa sacrificed his life on the matter of illegal mining activities in Gujarat, he presented numbers of evidence before honorable high court of Gujarat, those evidence were leading to Dinu Solanki and other land mafia's involvement in illegal activities. But the effort of powerful BJP Modi Government to save mining mafias worked out. There was a key role of money and power to save criminal mining mafia, some of them are their own BJP members, 
The Gujarat high court on 11th February 2011 disposed of the PIL file by RTI activist Amit Jethwa, who was shot dead last year and also appreciated the step taken by the government to check illegal mining in the state.
Court accepted the government’s contention that the mechanism to check illegal mining activities are now in place and action is being taken against those violating the norms.
Amit Jethva’s PIL  had specifically drawn attention to the illegal mining in the Gir forest region. He was shot dead opposite the High Court building on July 20, 2010, a few days after filing the PIL. 
During the last hearing, the state government had filed an affidavit stating it had formed special task forces and grievance redressal committees at state and district levels, and had said that it would hold police officers, revenue officers and officers of Geology and Mining department of the concerned area accountable for illegal mining activities.
After Jethwa’s death court had made his younger brother Bhavin and uncle Vijay petitiners.
RTI activist Amit jethwa’s death had sparked off a political controversy, with Jethwa’s father Bhikhubhai Jethwa alleging that BJP MP from Junagadh, Dinu Solanki, was behind the murder. Bhikhubhai also filed a petition in Gujarat high court demanding investigation into his son’s death by independent agency. The Ahmedabad crime branch which was probing Jethwa’s murder, had arrested six person including pratap alias Shiva Solanki, nephew of Dinu Solanki.
Finally the Government is waking up!! As our first CIC Wajahat Habibullah said recently that the attacks and killings of RTI activists prove that the democratic machinery is now afraid of RTIs being filed… but someone needs to ask him, the martyrs who had laid down their life fighting injustice, what have their families got.. just the name.. rest is history.







અમિત જેઠવાની PILનો નિકાલ

Sandesh Dt.12/02/2011


અમદાવાદતા.૧૧
કોડિનાર પંથકમાં અને ખાસ કરીને સાસણ ગીરના વિસ્તારોમાં ચાલી રહેલી ખનિજની ચોરી અને ગેરકાયદેસર ખાણકામ તરફ આંગળી ચિંધતી જાહેર હિતની અરજીનો આજે હાઈકોર્ટે નિકાલ કર્યો હતો. આરટીઆઈ એક્ટિવિસ્ટ અમિત જેઠવાએ આ અરજી કરી હતી અને તેના થોડા જ સમયમાં હાઈકોર્ટના મુખ્ય દ્વારની સામે જ તેની હત્યા કરવામાં આવી હતી.
જાહેર હિતની આ અરજી પરની છેલ્લી સુનવણી વખતે રાજ્ય સરકારે રાજ્યભરમાં ગેરકાયદે ખાણકામ રોકવા અને ખનિજની ચોરી થતી અટકાવવા ૧૭-૧-૧૧નો નવો પરિપત્ર બહાર પાડી નીતિ હાઈકોર્ટમાં જાહેર કરી હતી.
જેના આધારે સરકારે એવો દાવો કર્યો હતો કેહવે આ પ્રકારની ગેરકાયદેસર પ્રવૃત્તિઓ પર રોક લાગી ગઈ છે. રાજ્ય સરકારના આ પ્રતિભાવ અંગે આજે હાઈકોર્ટે સંતોષ વ્યક્ત કરી જાહેર હિતની આ અરજીનો કોઈપણ વધુ આદેશો આપ્યા વિના નિકાલ કર્યો હતો.
ઉલ્લેખનીય છે કેઅમિત જેઠવાએ પોતાના મૃત્યુ પહેલાં આ અરજીમાં તમામ ગેરકાયદે પ્રવૃત્તિમાં સ્થાનિક સાંસદ દીનુ બોઘાની પરોક્ષ સંડોવણી તરફ ઈશારો કર્યો હતો. જેના પગલે હાઈકોર્ટે તેમને પણ પક્ષકાર બનાવવાનો હુકમ કર્યો હતો. અલબત્તઆજે જ્યારે અમિત જેઠવાના સ્થાને અરજદાર તરીકે જોડાયેલા તેમના ભાઈના એડ્વોકેટે આ પાસાં તરફ હાઈકોર્ટનું ધ્યાન દોર્યું ત્યારે કોર્ટે આ એક રાજકીય આક્ષેપ છે અને તે અંગે કોર્ટ કોઈ જ સંદર્ભ રાખવા નથી માંગતી તેમ જણાવી આ મુદ્દો અરજીનો નિકાલ કરતી વખતે ધ્યાને લેવાનો ઈનકાર કર્યો હતો.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Bhikhubhai Jethwa asks Nitin gadakari

On 5th February Bhikhubhai Jethwa, father of slain RTI activist Amit Jethwa wrote a letter to BJP chief Nitin gadakari. He asked Gadakari to demand CBI inquiry on activist murder case.  RTI activist Amit Jethwa was shot dead on 20th July 2010 right opposite side of Gujarat high court soon after he filed a PIL against illegal mining in Gir forest area naming BJP MP Dinu Solanki. With the help of his nephew Shiva Solanki MP Dinu Solanki gave a contract to eliminate RTI activist.
Recently BJP asked for a CBI inquiry on the murder of IAS officer Yashwant Rao. He was murdered in state of Maharashtra where congress is a ruling party. Bhikhubhai raise question against double standard of BJP. He adds why BJP not asking for a special investigation in activist murder case? Gujarat government refuses to take action against MP Dinu Solanki as he is a member of ruling party BJP.

Jethava murder accused applies for bail

Times of India
10th February 2011,
The main accused in the RTI activist Amit Jethava murder case, Shiva Solanki, has moved an application in the city sessions court demanding regular bail. The hearing on the petition will be held on Thursday. Jethava was shot dead on July 20 last year in front of high court after he filed a PIL against illegal mining activity of BJP MP Dinu Bogha Solanki in the Gir sanctuary. Shiva is nephew of the BJP leader. TNN



Saturday, February 5, 2011

High Price for India’s Information Law

NewYorkTimes
By LYDIA POLGREEN
January 22, 2011



Amit Jethwa had just left his lawyer’s office after discussing a lawsuit he had filed to stop an illicit limestone quarry with ties to powerful local politicians. That is when the assassins struck, speeding out of the darkness on a roaring motorbike, pistols blazing. He died on the spot, blood pouring from his mouth and nose. He was 38.
Mr. Jethwa was one of millions of Indians who had embraced the country’s five-year-old Right to Information Act, which allows citizens to demand almost any government information. People use the law to stop petty corruption and to solve their most basic problems, like getting access to subsidized food for the poor or a government pension without having to pay a bribe, or determining whether government doctors and teachers are actually showing up for work.
But activists like Mr. Jethwa who have tried to push such disclosures further — making pointed inquiries at the dangerous intersection of high-stakes business and power politics — have paid a heavy price. Perhaps a dozen have been killed since 2005, when the law was enacted, and countless others have been beaten and harassed.
In many of these cases, the information requested involved allegations of corruption and collusion between politicians and big-money business.
“Now that power people are realizing the power of the right to information, there is a backlash,” said Amitabh Thakur, an activist and police official who is writing a book about people killed for demanding information under the law. “It has become dangerous.”
India may be the world’s largest democracy, but it remains dogged by the twin legacies of feudalism and colonialism, which have often meant that citizens are treated like subjects. Officials who are meant to serve them often act more like feudal lords than representatives of the people.
The law was intended to be a much-needed leveler between the governors and the governed. In many ways it has worked, giving citizens the power to demand a measure of accountability from bureaucrats and politicians.
When the law was passed, Mr. Jethwa, a longtime activist who nursed a lifelong grudge against those who abused official power, immediately seized upon it as a powerful new tool.
A man herded sheep on land in the Gir Forest that had been torn up by illegal limestone mining.


His objective was to stop illegal quarries near the Gir National Park, 550 square miles of scrubland and deciduous forest near his hometown, along the southern coast of Gujarat, India’s most prosperous state. The preserve is the only remaining habitat of the rare Asiatic lion. The animal is featured on the national emblem of India, and is considered by Hindus to be a sacred incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
But the forest sits in a mineral-rich area of coastal Gujarat dotted with cement factories that churn out building materials to fuel India’s near double-digit economic growth. The limestone that lies just beneath the soil in and around the Gir Forest is an ideal component of cement. By law, the forest and a three-mile boundary around it are off limits to all mining activity. But quarries the size of several football fields have been cut deep into the earth in the protected zone.
This mining has had serious consequences not only for the forest preserve, but also for water used for drinking and farming. The thirsty limestone is a natural barrier between seawater and fresh groundwater. A recent state government report concluded that limestone mining had allowed seawater to flow into the aquifer, causing an “irreversible loss.”
Balu Bhai Socha, an environmental advocate who worked with Mr. Jethwa, said the pace of mining rapidly increased as the local economy boomed.
“The speed with which the illegal mining was going on, we realized, within 10 years they will clean out the whole forest,” Mr. Socha said.
Balu Bhai Socha, an environmental advocate, said that he now thought twice before challenging powerful interests and that he wondered if the risks were worth it.

Mr. Jethwa repeatedly filed information requests to unearth the names of those operating the quarries and to see what action had been taken against them. He discovered there were 55 illegal quarries in and around the preserve. One name stood out among the records of land leases, electricity bills and inspection reports: Dinubhai Solanki, a powerful member of Parliament from the Bharatiya Janata Party, which governs Gujarat.
Mr. Solanki, who had risen from the State Legislature to Parliament, was a local kingmaker and an imperious presence. He had the backing of the local police and bureaucrats, activists here said. Mr. Jethwa and many others suspected that he was the mastermind and principal beneficiary of the illegal mining operation.
In February 2008, Mr. Jethwa was attacked by a gang of men on motorbikes. He was beaten so badly that he had to be hospitalized. He immediately suspected Mr. Solanki.
“If someone attacks me, or kills me in an accident, if my body is injured — for these acts the Kodinar MLA Dinu Solanki will be responsible,” he wrote in a letter to Gujarat’s chief minister, Narendra Modi, after the attack.
His father begged him to stop.
“I cautioned him several times about the danger,” the elder Mr. Jethwa said. “But he used to say: ‘Forget that you have three sons and say you have two sons. Let me do my work.’ He would say, ‘My religion is rule of law.’ ”
Bhikhu Jethwa sifts through photographs of his son, Amit, who was killed after filing a lawsuit to stop an illicit, multimillion-dollar limestone mine run by powerful local politicians.

Mr. Jethwa’s information requests found sheaves of correspondence between forestry officials and local bureaucrats showing that despite repeated efforts to shut down the quarries, the practice continued.
By last June, he felt that he had amassed enough evidence to file a lawsuit to stop the mining. He filed the papers on June 28. On July 20, late at night, he was gunned down, leaving behind a wife and two children.
Because of his activism and the place where he died, practically on the doorstep of the state high court, political pressure forced an unusually swift investigation. Detectives used cellphone records to link Shiva Solanki, the nephew of Dinubhai Solanki, to the killing, and he has been charged with conspiracy and murder. He is accused of hiring a contract killer to murder Mr. Jethwa.
But few people believe that Shiva Solanki, who works for his uncle, could have carried out and paid for a contract killing on his own.
Anand Yagnik, a prominent human rights lawyer in Gujarat, said that the police had made no effort to investigate Mr. Solanki.
“The message that has gone out is that if you resort to your right to information to try to harass a political person, even after your murder, that man will go scot-free,” Mr. Yagnik said, seated below a portrait of Gandhi in his basement law office in Ahmedabad.
The police did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the investigation into Mr. Jethwa’s death. Mr. Solanki told reporters at his office here that because the case was under investigation he would not answer questions.
“You are welcome to sit here, have a cup of tea,” he said. “I will not say a word.”
Mr. Jethwa’s death has sent a chill through the community of activists here. Mr. Socha, the environmental activist, said that he now thought twice before challenging powerful interests and that he wondered if the risks were worth it.
“Our hearts are broken after his death,” Mr. Socha said. “You cannot fix the system. Everybody is getting money. If I give my life, what is the point?”

Hari Kumar contributed reporting.
A version of this article appeared in print on January 23, 2011, on page A1 of the New York edition.
All images by Lynsey Addario for The New York Times Copyright 2011 The New York Times Company