Ranchi: A group of RTI activists across the state on Wednesday staged a protest outside Raj Bhavan to demand police security against harassment by bureaucrats and government officials.

Over a dozen members Suchana Adhikar Manch and Bhartiya Suchana Adhikar Parisad alleged that had not formulated a policy to protect the whistleblowers despite the repeated advisories from the Union ministry of home affairs.

"In Jharkhand, over a dozen cases of murder and victimisation of RTI activists have taken place, but most of them remained unreported. Our life is under threat because we expose corruption. We are implicated in false cases," said Anand Kishore, an activist from Gumla district.

In 2011, NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) activist Niyamat Ansar, an associate of economist Jean Dreze was lynched. In 2008, civil engineer-turned-activist Lalit Mehta, also close to Dreze, was killed in Palamau. In the same year, Kameshwar Yadav, an MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) activist from Giridih district, was shot dead.

Manoj Rana of Hazaribagh district had exposed two scams in Katkamsandi block involving the construction of a government school building and purchase of solar lights at high cost by the mukhiya of Dhengra panchayat this year.

"I lost my right eye after goons attacked and grievously injured me. I had to stay in a Ranchi-based hospital for more than a month. Police deliberately prepared a mild injury report. I still get threats. My family doesn't want me to do any activism for public cause," Rana said.

In 2014, Babloo Sah of Mandu block in Ramgarh district had exposed corruption in the construction of five houses for BPL families. An inquiry was conducted and five panchayat sevaks were suspended.

"The then Mandu BDO Jai Kumar threatened to harm me and my family over phone. I submitted evidences to the government and police but no action was taken," he said.

Ravikant Paswan of Latehar district is facing three cases after he exposed a scam related to the illegal settlement of government land under Latehar Sadar block.

"One day I visited the block office and found an FIR was lodged against me for manhandling block officials and employees. There is a strong nexus between police, civil administration and middlemen to implicate activists like us," Paswan said.

They alleged that the State Information Commission was also not interested in the protection of RTI activists.

"The state commission is an apex body and should take suo motu cognisance of the harassment meted out to RTI activists. One of our friends Darsh Choudhary of Jamshedpur has been fighting a legal battle for the past few years after he was implicated in a false case. His only fault was that he had exposed corruption in government health service in Jamshedpur," an activist from Dumka, Ranjan Kumar, said.

State chief information commissioner Aditya Swarup said no RTI activist had so far lodged any harassment complaint before the commission.

"State commission can act in such cases as per the power vested in the RTI Act. I am not aware of their demonstration today (Wednesday). To my knowledge one Darsh Choudhary of Jamshedpur had filed a complaint and I had directed the Jamshedpur SP to look into the matter," he said.

Promulgated in 2005, the Right to Information Act proved a potent tool for common people and activists to expose corruption. In view of the numerous attacks on RTI activists across the country, the department of personnel & training under the Union home affairs ministry had on May 2011 set up a task force to review the provisions of the act and its effective implementation and recommended measures for protection of persons seeking information under it.