Shot thrice, activist renews bid for justice after Bhupendra Vira’s murder

Shot thrice, activist renews bid for justice after Bhupendra Vira’s murder
65-year-old Arun Sawant, partially paralysed after the 2010 attack, visits Mantralaya to seek thorough investigation and adequate compensation

Mumbai: Three days after RTI activist Bhupendra Vira was shot dead, fellow transparency crusader Arun Sawant knocked on the doors of the Mantralaya to demand justice for Vira and for himself.

Sawant, 65, has spent over six years in a wheelchair after he was shot at three times by unidentified assailants for raising difficult questions on governance and politicians’ conduct.

The 2010 attack left him paralysed from the waist down, slowing his quest for answers, which included regular visits to the secretariat. So far, not a single suspect has been arrested. Vira’s murder last week opened Sawant’s old wounds, but also strengthened his determination to continue his RTI-aided fight against corruption, abuse of power, and police apathy.

His day-long visit to the Mantralaya on Tuesday was his first since the attack. Apart from petitions for speedier investigations into Vira’s killing and the attempt on his own life, Sawant carried three RTI applications in a bag, which he held on to despite limited function in one of his hands.

The Ambarnath-based activist was brought in an ambulance and it took three people to lower his wheelchair from the vehicle and hoist it back inside. His wife, Gauri, accompanied him.

“This is what happens when you fight against social evils and corrupt officials with the help of the Right to Information Act,” Sawant said of his partial paralysis. “RTI is a very powerful tool and the attack on me is evidence of it.”

Sawant worked as a clerk for the state transport department before taking up activism 10 years ago. He submitted information requests on various issues and his biggest battle was against MLA Kisan Kathore, who was accused of submitting false affidavits related to his nomination papers before an election in 2004. The allegation, triggered by Sawant’s RTI queries, led the Bombay High Court to junk Kathore’s nomination even though he had won the poll.

Kathore, who currently represents the Murbad constituency, challenged the order in the Supreme Court and the case is currently being heard by a lower court in Ulhasnagar. “There is no lift in the building that houses the Ulhasnagar court, but I still attend hearings every time I am called,” Sawant said. The RTI activist was struck by three bullets near the Badlapur municipal council on February 26, 2010. “One bullet went straight into my spine and I have lost all sensation in my lower body,” Sawant said.

A month before the attack, he had sought police protection, but in vain. “I sought police cover after activist Satish Shetty was killed in Talegaon on January 13, 2010. I had also been getting threats, but cops didn’t provide security. Now I have 24x7 security,” he said.

Sawant named some people who he thought were behind the attack on him, but the Badlapur police apparently made no arrests. In 2011, he wrote to the then President Pratibha Patil, requesting a fresh probe by another agency. The letter prompted the state to transfer the case to the CID. But in 2013, the CID filed a closure report under the ‘A category’, saying they would reopen the investigation if the culprits are identified.

“I had clearly named suspects, yet there has not been a single arrest. I believe political pressure is hampering the investigation. This has been the common pattern in the attacks on activists. Is this the direction our country is headed in?” Sawant said. “I will request the High Court to look into the case — it is my last hope for justice.”

Earlier this year, the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission awarded him Rs 10 lakh in compensation after criticising the “apathy and negligence of the police in not providing timely security”. The money is not enough to cover his expensive treatment and he has sought compensation from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

“I am confined to a wheelchair and have to rely on a paid attendant for everyday tasks. I have to travel in an ambulance and I have already sold some property to pay for the treatment at Lilavati Hospital,” Sawant said. As he prepared to leave the Mantralaya on Tuesday, he requested another visitor to push his wheelchair into the bathroom so he could empty his urine bag. “Despite the difficulties and inconveniences, I will not stop social work,” Sawant said.

Thane’s guardian minister, Eknath Shinde, said he would request the chief minister to consider Sawant’s application.