Chennai Police arrest RTI applicant for refusing to stand at hearing

An RTI activist was arrested by police from the Tamil Nadu State Information Commission (TNSIC) premises after he strongly protested against him being disallowed from sitting down during hearing of his case at the commission's headquarters in Teynampet in Chennai on Wednesday. 

Though there is no specific rule that an RTI applicant should remain standing during an appeal, but when NGO Satta Panchayat Iyakkam (Legal Panchayat Movement) president Siva Elango asked for a chair during the hearing of an appeal preferred by him, Chief Information Commissioner K S Sripathi and commissioner S F Akbar refused to accede to the request. 

TV Grab of Siva Elango giving an interview to a channel

When the SPI president himself ventured to take a chair, the commissioners informed the Teynampet police and lodged a formal complaint. Police picked up Elango from the TNSIC headquarters and booked him under IPC Sections 353 (preventing a government servant from discharging his duty), 294 (b) (obscenity) and 506 (1) (criminal intimidation). 

Police presented Elango in a magistrate's court, which remanded him in judicial custody for 15 days. Elango is currently in Puzhal Central Prison here.

Siva Elango is the state president of Satta Panchayat Iyakkam which runs a campaign against corruption in government machinery.

Elango came to attend the proceedings of the Information Commission with his colleague after he was called for a hearing on his appeal. He had sought to know through an RTI application why the state government was giving advertisements to only select newspapers.

Meanwhile, in protest against the arrest of Elango, his colleagues at Satta Panchayat Iyakkam are planning to stage a sit-in in the Information Commission premises at 2.30 pm tomorrow, a member of the NGO said.

.

Reacting to the development, former Central Information Commissioner, Mr. Shailesh Gandhi wrote in his post on facebook : “I feel this is an insult to the sovereignty of the citizen. Every citizen must get the right to sit when deposing before any judicial or quasi-judicial authority. An insistence that a citizen must stand in such situations is feudal, and an insult to the dignity and respect to human rights. These must be discontinued in all forums, and citizens should insist on this.”