Dear all,

Readers will remember the email alert sent out a couple of weeks ago about the murder of Ram Vilas Singh- RTI activist and anti-corruption crusader in Lakhisarai district of the State of Bihar. Even as we are looking through the documents relating to the RTI cases sent by his son, an important development has taken place. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken cognizance of this case based on our email alert. The NHRC took notice of the matter on 14th December (within five days of the murder) and has ordered the head of the district police administration of Lakhisarai to submit a report on the incident within four weeks. A copy of the order has been sent to the Director General of Police (Human Rights), Bihar. A scanned copy of the order is attached here.

A recent media report indicates that one of the alleged murderers has been arrested by the police. For this news story click on here : I am told the others have not been arrested yet. It is very encouraging to see that the NHRC has taken prompt action in a case involving a human rights defender. I hope the NHRC will continue to monitor the case to ensure proper and prompt investigation so that the culprits are brought to justice.

Meanwhile various RTI fora who are following up on this incident have organised a protest meet in Patna today. For this news story click on: here.

In order to access our previous email alerts on RTI and related issues please click on: here

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Thanks

Venkatesh Nayak

Programme Coordinator

Access to Information Programme

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative

B-117, 1st Floor, Sarvodaya Enclave New Delhi- 110 017

Tel: +91-11-43180215/ 43180200 Fax: +91-11-26864688

Website: www.humanrightsinitiative.org

Skype: venkatesh.nayak

Alternate Email ID: nayak.venkatesh@gmail.com