Dear Sarabjit, It is good that the RTI community has wise souls like you to guide them, and save them from being misled by my cleverly-written reports. *Lagey Raho*, Sarabjit.
Warmly, Krish On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 12:18 PM, sroy1947 <[email protected]> wrote: > > > You will be pleased to know that many Indian's are exempt from standing up > when the national anthem is played. It is probable that Mr Joshi (like me) > is one of those exempt people. > > From Krishnaraj's message, it also seems that Mr Joshi behaved very > correctly with them, however, these RTI goondas (aka "activists") think they > have a god given right to barge into offices of public servants and disturb > their functioning - ignoring directions that only 5 person would be allowed > inside Mr Joshi's chamber. By wilfully disregarding this direction they > breached section 144's ceiling and exposed themselves to various criminal > charges. To wriggle out of this situation their advocate has evidently > coached them to claim that there were 2 groups of 4/5 people and 1 > singleton. > > It is also very disturbing that Central Information Commissioner Shailesh > Gandhi continues to encourage the Maharashtrian RTI goondas running amok in > his home base of Mumbai, by corresponding with them from his personal email > accounts. > > Sarbajit > > --- In [email protected] <rti_india%40yahoogroups.com>, LESLIE > ALMEIDA <lesals2...@...> wrote: > > > > Really Brave hearts that what i can call them, > > > > --- On Wed, 5/27/09, Krishnaraj Rao <sahasipadya...@...> wrote: > > > > > > From: Krishnaraj Rao <sahasipadya...@...> > > Subject: [rti4empowerment] 48-hour Jail Experience Part I > > To: [email protected] <rti4empowerment%40yahoogroups.com>, > [email protected]<pune-heritage-watch%40googlegroups.com>, > rtiker...@... > > Date: Wednesday, May 27, 2009, 4:02 PM > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > How we landed in Jail â" a brief account > > Dear friends, > > Since our release last Thursday after 48 hours in police and judicial > custody, we have been repeatedly asked: âWhat exactly happened? Why were > you charged with trespass, rioting, assault etc? Did you go on a rampage in > Dr Suresh Joshiâs office or courtroom? How can singing Jana Gana Mana get > somebody into so much trouble?â > > People also ask, âHow did it feel to be in jail? How are you feeling > now? Arenât you ashamed of being branded as criminals?â > > On behalf of our small group of jailbirds, who proudly call themselves > the Jana Gana Mana group, let me put the facts on record. I shall write this > in three parts: > > Part I: What exactly happened at Maharashtra State Information Commission > on Tuesday, 19th May? Why did we get arrested? Why did CSIC Dr Joshi lodge > an FIR with the Police? > > Part II: What were the events in the earlier months that built up to this > incident? Were we very aggressive or did we misbehave in earlier meetings? > What put Dr Joshi into his negative / angry / vindictive frame of mind? > > Part III: How did it feel to be in police lockup, taken around in police > vans, marched barefoot to the Magistrate court, and sleep among 130 assorted > inmates at Arthur Road jail? How was the food, and how were our > conversations with undertrials and hardened criminals? > > Today, I shall write only Part I. > > What happened on the afternoon of 19th May > > Dr Srikant Prabhu, a 67-year-old veterinarian, had a second appeal > hearing before Dr Suresh Joshi at 4.30 pm. He was accompanied by G R Vora > and Mohd Afzal. They completed that hearing before the other activists > arrived one by one at the State Information Commission. > > In fact, we were not one homogenous group. Two groups and some individual > activists pursuing their own cause were together at this meeting to press > for clean implementation of the RTI Act. > > ·       Krishnaraj Rao, G R Vora, Mohd Afzal and Sunil Ahya > comprise one group. They had been following up Dr Suresh Joshi for proper > implementation of RTI Act since November 2008. > > ·       Another group consists of Mukund Parikh, Dr Srikant > Prabhu, Sanjay Ghatalia and K N Singh. > > ·       Vijay Chavan is a social activist who had been pursuing > a number of second appeals, and successfully got several PIOs penalized. > > ·       Ravi Kiran Haldipur was an appellant who had recently > become interested in our cause and our methods. > > Our group â" the first one -- submitted a letter to the inward > department. The letter warned that if Information Commissioners implemented > penal provisions of RTI Act in an arbitrary or mala fide way, then Sec. 217 > & 218 of the Indian Penal Code would be applicable. They could be hauled to > court and jailed for such action. Attached to this letter were relevant > judgments of High Courts and Supreme Court. > > Read letter here: http://www.box. net/shared/ l9tmt6zs3y > > Having submitted the letter, we spoke to Dr Joshiâs Executive Assistant > Kalpana Gavas, and asked for a time to see Dr Joshi. She said that he was > too busy to see us, as he had a doctorâs appointment at 5.30. > > So we said we would go inside and observe his court hearings. (This is > something that we have been doing a couple of times every month, in groups > of varying sizes.) Again, she consulted Dr Joshi and said that only five of > us could go inside at one time. We decided to disregard this. > > We entered, stood or sat at the back, and observed one hearing. After the > hearing was completed, we requested Dr Joshi (who had a band-aid on his > forehead) for a brief meeting to submit our letter personally. He granted us > five minutes and asked us to come to the front. Dr Joshi said that he would > henceforth meet us and other activists only on the first Monday of every > month. We told him that this was unacceptable, as the list of things that he > had promised and had not implemented was growing longer, requiring more > frequent meetings. > > Suddenly, a well-known social activist who had come with us for the first > time, stood up and announced that he always began this kind of meetings by > singing the National Anthem in order to invoke a patriotic spirit. (He had > earlier sung the National Anthem at the office of Dr Patangrao Kadam, > Maharashtra Housing Minister.) He then unilaterally started singing Jana > Gana Mana. The rest of us joined him in chorus. Dr Joshi remained seated for > the initial three lines, and then shook his head in dismay, got up and left > the room by the back door which leads to his chamber. > > After we finished singing, we waited a few minutes for him to return, and > then someone went outside to find that Dr Joshi was leaving. Standing in the > lobby, he said loudly that this was not the way, and he was calling police. > We said that if that was indeed the case, they we would wait for the police > to arrive. > > We waited in the lobby for half an hour, and took this group photo: > http://www.box. net/shared/ c3adg3gzg3 > > When we asked Ms Gavas again whether we were required to wait any longer, > she asked us to wait. Approximately an hour after Dr Joshiâs departure, > around 15 policemen arrived, took the statements of Ms Gavas and other > office staff, took the group to Marine Drive Police Station in a police van > and told us to sign us the arrest/surrender form. We were put in police > custody at Azad Maidan Police Station overnight. Next day we were produced > in Court and granted bail on a surety of Rs 20,000 per head. As we could not > produce this at short notice, we were sent to Judicial Custody at Arthur > Road Jail. > > We were charged with the following offences: > > Section 143- Whoever is a member of an unlawful assembly shall be > punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend > to six month, or with fine, or with both. > > Section 145- Joining or continuing in unlawful assembly, knowing it has > been commanded to disperse- Whoever joins or continues in an unlawful > assembly, knowing that such unlawful assembly has been commanded in the > manner prescribed by law to disperse, shall be punished with imprisonment of > either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, > or with both. > > Section 146- Rioting- Whenever force or violence is used by an unlawful > assembly, or by any member thereof, in prosecution of the common object of > such assembly, every member of such assembly is guilty of the offence of > rioting. > > Section 448- Whoever commits house-trespass shall be punished with > imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, > or with fine or which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both. > > Section 452- House-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or > wrongful restraint- Whoever commits house-trespass, having made preparation > for causing hurt to any person or for assaulting any person, or for > wrongfully restraining any person, or for putting any person in fear of > hurt, or of assault, or of wrongful restraint, shall be punished with > imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven > years, and shall also be liable to fine. > > 353- Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of > his duty- Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any person being a > public servant in the execution of his duty as such public servant, or with > intent to prevent or deter that person from discharging his duty as such > public servant, or in consequence of anything done or attempted to be done > by such person in the lawful discharge of his duty as such public servant, > shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which > may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both. > > We were charged with the following offences: > > Dear friends, many of us agree that the Jana Gana Mana singing was > unnecessary and distracting. It happened in an unpremeditated way, and was > not to our liking⦠but once someone in our large group started singing, we > felt that the only gracious thing to do was stand at attention and join > in. We could not stop him midway by poking his ribs or kicking his shin, > could we? > >  Our conduct as a group may at worst be described as inappropriate or > unruly. However, does this justify the serious charges levelled against us > viz. assault, rioting, house-trespass etc? Does this justify the police > harassment? > > The response by Dr Joshi and the police was out of proportion.. . a bit > like throwing someone into jail for crossing the road when the light was > red. Don't you think so? > > Warmly, > > Krish > > 98215 88114 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Yahoo! 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