Eminent citizens demand Right to Information

Former Justice Calls for repeal of Official Secrets Act
The former Supreme Court Justice, Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer, has given a clarion call for repeal of the Official Secrets Act terming it as an “imperative demand of Indian democracy”. Speaking at a seminar on “50 years of Independence and Freedom of the Press" Justice Krishna Iyer said the first insistent demand of the people must be revoking of this act, a legacy of the British Raj.

Referring to a statement by Winston Churchill to the effect that “the Official Secrets Act is invariably used to defend ministers who tell lies,” Justice Krishna Iyer said that “it is crucial, nay fundamental, to the survival of democracy that we must have absolute freedom of information except slicing out a small portion which is impinging on the security of the country”.

He said that “all corruption can end only if there is freedom of information”. All information that affects public interest should be made available to the public and the media has a crucial role to play in this regard. “Everyone has the right to demand how the power is being exercised.” He stated, “No freedom of expression, no democracy” is a new slogan, which Mr. Justic Krishna Iyer gave at the seminar. “Without transparency, democracy is dead,” he declared. “that government serves the people best which has the least secrets to hide,” he added.

Right to know should be included in Constitution
“The right to know was as much a basic right as the one to breathe fresh air and drink fresh water without obstruction, and it should be declared a part of the basic structure of the constitution just as secularism has been included”, Shri Kuldip Nayar, MP and veteran columnist has said.

This is a legacy of the British Raj. But in independent India, there should be complete transparency, Mr. Nayar said, adding that the Act Should be amended limiting it purview only to defence secret, since this was the only way to keep the country and democracy on the right track. Owing to the Government’s policy of censoring important documents “I don’t think journalists are able to fulfil their responsibility of informing the reading public in spite of their best effort to do so”, he said.

Government uses ‘security’ as a favourite excuse to hide information
Attorney General Soli Sorabji took a dig at the executive for suppressing free speech on grounds of national security or public order, calling it a “favourite and frequent” excuse. While speaking at a lecture on ‘Freedom os Speech and Expression: Some Facets and Problems organised by the Babul Reddy Foundation in Hyderabad. He called upon the judges not to regard the executive’s assertions of danger to national security as “papal dogmas of infallibility but view them with searching skepticism”, adding that experience had proved that these concerns tended to be highly exaggerated most of the time and even non existent in some cases. “Often security of the state gets equated with the security of the current rulers. It happened in India when a spurious emergency was declared in 1975 by Indira Gnadhi.

The Attorney General stressed the need to give the people access to information on the functioning of the government to make it more accountable. “Information is power today, and therefore no one should be surprised at the frantic attempts by the officials as also bit businessmen and vested interests to suppress or distort and manipulate information for reasons spurious and specious.”

Elaborating on the permissible limits of restriction on freedom of expression, he said although this was described as striking the right balance between preservation of free speech and Fundamental Rights, there was a difficulty in translating it into practice as there were varying notions about the function of the free speech.

Magasasay Awardee gets another award but under section 500 of IPC
Noted Social worker and Ramon Magsaysay awardee Anna Hazare was awarded with three months simple imprisonment by a Mumbai metropolitant court in connection with a defamation suit field by Maharashtra social welfare minister Babanrao Gholap. The Maharashtra government released Anna much before the term due to intervention of Shiv Sena supremo Bala Saheb Thakerey.

Hazare was convicted under Section 500 of the Indian Penal code for stating in an interview to the Marathi newspaper Navakaal in September 1997 that Gholap was found guilty of corruption by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). Hazare could not conclusively establish the minister’s involvement in the deal. “The judge asked me to file a bond that I will not speak against anybody for two years. I think it is against my right to freedom of speech,” Anna said in an interview.

This has been condemned by many NGOs and concerned citizens. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in a statement said that “the sentence passed on Hazare has implications for many concerned citizens of the nation. In the Seymour Hershe Morarji Desai incident, when the American journalist accused Desai of being on the rolls of the US Central Intelligence Agency, Desai could not win the case of defamation against Hershe. In such instance, the malafide intent of the accusation has to be proved. Gholap should also have proved the malice in Hazare’s accusation”. Due to the Official Secrets Act in force, a common man, who does not have access to government files, cannot prove a charge against a government official. The GIS@development strongly condemns the III-treatment towards the eminent social worker.