The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : A long fight against corruption in society

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 13, 2006
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

A long fight against corruption in society

Staff Reporter

NOT GIVING UP: Ravindranath Guru

Bangalore: At 1 a.m. on November 28, Ravindranath Guru and his wife woke up to the sound of shattering of window panes in their house. When the couple came out, they saw two people riding away on a two-wheeler. They could not identify them as the streetlights were off.

Mr. Guru has now sought protection from the police.

In his complaint with the Banashankari police station the same day, Mr. Guru stated that he is being targeted for seeking documents about commercial buildings built on residential sites under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP), after receiving a complaint from 15 people who claimed that Mr. Guru himself had violated the building byelaws in the construction of his house, inspected his house. Mr. Guru had not violated any laws.

Mr. Guru filed an application asking the BMP to verify houses of those who had complained against him.

Since no action was taken, he filed an RTI application asking what the status of his application was.

When he still did not receive any information, he approached the Karnataka Information Commission (KIC), which passed orders asking Mr. Guru to file an affidavit on the omissions and commissions of BMP officials, within seven days.

The day the orders were passed, his house was attacked. But Mr. Guru continues to be defiant, and says: "I am not scared of these people. They cannot harm me in any way. I will continue to fight corruption."

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