RTI activist arrested on complaint by the Tamil Nadu State Information Commission
8 Jan, 2015The Chennai police arrested RTI activist and NGO Satta Panchayat Iyakkam (Legal Panchayat Movement) president Siva Elango yesterday for allegedly preventing a bench of chief information commissioner K S Sripathi and commissioner S F Akbar from discharging his duties.
Elango had filed a second appeal seeking details of advertisements issued by the state government from 1991 to 2014 and when the SIC refused to oblige, Elango created a commotion which led to Sripathi informing the Teynampet police. As per Elango’s version, the government had failed to provide the information and the instead of penalising the concerned PIO, the information commissioners misbehaved with him and did not allow him to sit during the proceedings. It has been alleged that he asked for a chair during the hearing and refused to remain standing up. The information commissioner Akbar said TNSIC had given Elango sufficient opportunities to obtain the information but he did not follow some procedures.
The police arrested Elango and he has been currently lodged in Puzhal Central Prison. Elango has been booked under sections 353 (preventing a government servant to discharge his duty), 294 (b) (abusing) and 506 (1) (criminal intimidation) of the IPC. He was presented in a magistrate's court at Saidapet, which remanded him in judicial custody for 15 days.