A 67-year old consumer activist from Salem was assaulted by some persons for seeking information under
RTI Act.(Reported in "the Hindu" dt 01.12.2006)
Mr A Annamalai of FEDCOT sought information under
RTI Act about the waiver of loans by a cooperative society in his village. Following this, he was abused and attacked in front of his house.
Following a complaint by one of the assailants, Mr Annamalai, a one-time Bhoodhan Movement leader, was taken to the police station and and made to sit on the floor in a corner. He was also abused and treated like a criminal.
The police, instead of taking action against the asailants, obtained a commitment from him in writing that he would not file similar petitions in future.
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Only last week, the office of another veteran consumer activist, "Traffic Ramaswamy", was ransacked in Chennai, following which, the Madras High Court has ordered a gun-man security for him. Mr Ramaswamy has filed a number of Public Interest Litigations in Madras High Court (This incident along with an interview was telecast in NDTV on 30.11.2006).