Mumbai cops book city RTI activist to cover illegal detention?
NAGPUR: Mumbai police
have booked under several charges a Nagpur-based Right to Information
(RTI) Act activist after she allegedly protested her ouster from appeal
proceedings in Urban Development Department (UDD) last week.
Ankita Shah, 24, who has been made accused in the case, has also filed a
cross complaint against UDD principal secretary Shreekant Singh and the
police for illegally detaining her at Marine Drive police station.
Daughter of grain trader Kamlesh Shah, Ankita has exposed several
irregularities in the functioning of different government departments
and also flouting of norms in giving sanctions to the big projects using
RTI.
"I was taken to police station at exactly 1.53 pm and
released at 9.10 pm. The cops did not inform me anything about the
action they were taking against me. They were not ready to pay heed to
my side of the story and reluctant to receive the complaint I wanted to
lodge against the UDD principal secretary as he used police machinery to
remove me from his office during appeal," said Ankita. She has been
booked for allegedly obstructing a government servant from discharging
his duty, criminal trespass, and threatening.
She later filed a
RTI application to know what action were taken against her at police
station. Ankita said police did not inform her about the offence they
were registering against her which she came to know through media.
Ankita had gone to intervene in the appeal on June 15 against the
cancellation of the lease of Nagpur Improvement Trust
(NIT) land on which Pravesh Enterprises had erected a six-storeyed cold
storage at Chikhli. The cold storage building had collapsed on January
30 last year killing 18 people and injuring many more.
Apart from the Pravesh Enterprise, Punjab National Bank
too was a party to the appeal which was also attended by the NIT
officials and others before the UDD principal secretary Singh. Ankita
had challenged Singh who wanted the activist to remain out of the
proceedings. The UDD officials informed the control room that alerted
the Marine Drive police station. Ankita was dragged to Marine Line
police station.
Ankita said she had every right to intervene in
the appeal hearing. "As a member of the public, I am qualified to
intervene into a matter where so many lives were lost and also as
victim. My father had faced huge loss due to the collapse. I had
accordingly written to Singh," she said.
Deputy commissioner of
police, Zone-I, Mumbai, Ravindra Shisve said Ankita was not illegally
detained but acted upon as per the legal provision. "We have received
the complaint lodged by her too and it is being given for conducting an
inquiry," said Shisve. "We had to react after the call from the
government office where she was arguing or else we would have faced
criticism," he said. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Mumbai-cops-book-city-RTI-activist-to-cover-illegal-detention/articleshow/20707241.cms