Activist assaulted

The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Activist assaulted: "An incident of a 67-year-old consumer activist who was assaulted by some persons for seeking information under the newly enacted Right to Information Act (RTI) has come to light.

In his letter to the Catalyst Trust here, A. Annamalai of Chokkanathapuram in Salem district who was the district coordinator, FEDCOT, Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu and Secretary of Chokkanathapuram Consumer Awareness and Environment Protection Society said he sought information under the RTI Act about the waiver of loans by a cooperative society in his village. Following this, he was abused and attacked by two persons, whom he identified, in front of his house on November 22. Following a complaint by one of the assailants with the Malliakkarai police station, he was taken to the police station where officials told him to withdraw the application. Mr. Annamalai said on November 24 he was assaulted by another person near the Chokkanathapuram bus stand.

A.K.Venkatasubramanian, trustee, has written to the Chief Secretary about the incident, with copies to the Secretary to the Chief Minister, State Chief Information Commissioner, Director-General of Police (DGP) and the Salem District Collector.

The DGP, D. Mukherjee, said he had not received the letter. The Superintendent of Police, Salem, N.Bhaskaran, said he was not aware of any such incident, had not received any complaint from Mr. Annamalai, but would look into the matter. "