Farmer seeking information under Rights Act killed in Orissa, India

The latest death has been reported from Orissa in India by a local newspaper Sambad. According to Human Rights Front (HRF), working on rights issues in the state, Krupasindhu Sahoo, a farmer from Nachhinga village in Cuttack district, was found murdered on 31st January 2015. HRF informed that the deceased was targeted because he had under the RTI Act exposed major corruption and fund misappropriation in relation to a rice intensification project under a central government sponsored Bring Green Revolution in Eastern India (BGREI) scheme. Further details about this crime can be found in the HRF blog.

In India RTI activists are vulnerable as a majority of these activists and information seekers are not part of any organization or group. Many human rights groups say that the RTI act does not provide inadequate protection to whistle-blowers. There have been more than 100 reports of assaults (below is screenshot) on RTI activists in the past 7-8 years.