Revoke FIR against founder-trustee of J&K RTI Foundation: RTI Activists

SRINAGAR — Several Right to Information (RTI) activists on Thursday urged the government to revoke an FIR lodged against RTI activist, Sajad Hussain Mir.

According to the spokesperson of J&K RTI Foundation, Shah Khalid, the revocation of FIR was sought by prominent RTI activists, including former Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibulla, former Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, Magsaysay awardee, activist and author Aruna Roy and Founder J&K RTI Foundation Engineer Irfan.

In a letter of J&K RTI Foundation to the Lieutenant Governor and the Chief Secretary with 18 signatories across India, the RTI activists have said that the victim is a founder-trustee of J&K RTI Foundation and has been voluntarily devoting his time to promote use of the RTI law to bring transparency and accountability in the system.

“For last two years, he has been running RTI Clinic at Chadoora where he helps people in filing RTI applications,” Khalid said.

He said that a police complaint was registered against Sajad in Police Station Chadoora. “We wonder if this can happen to Sajad, how safe would an ordinary RTI activist be,” Khalid added.

“Unfortunately, the executive officer (PIO) who filed false complaint against Sajad belongs to government itself as he works in Municipal Committee Chadoora,” he said.