Government officials who regard Journalists using the Right to Information Act as rivals!
A complaint was lodged with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka on the 7 March 2022, by Coomaraswamy Selvakumar (48), a journalist residing in Jaffna, Kopay, Kopay Central, stating that his human rights had been violated by government officials and that he had encountered problems when he sought information from the Kopay Divisional Secretariat through the Right to Information Act. His complaint has been lodged against Divisional Secretary Subhashini Madialagan and Kopay Samurdhi Development Officer Anthony.
He stated in his complaint that this problematic situation arose in connection with a request made through the Right to Information Act. Selvakumar said that he had been threatened by the authorities using various officials and that they have made false allegations on facebook.
He added that the office assistant had threatened him and his wife several times while they were walking down the street.
The complaint also included eyewitness and facebook posts as evidence.
He says that when requesting information from government officials under the Right to Information Act, journalists are subjected to various pressures and threats by government officials who consider them as their rivals. Selvakumar further said that when information is requested from government officials, they use minor staff to threaten thinking that they will be exposed with the details found out from the RTI..
Selvakumar holds a special place among the journalists who have exposed to society the frauds and corruption taking place in state institutions using the Right to Information Act. The information he has revealed has been released to the society through the face book. However, he says that his account has been blocked so far and he has not been able to activate facebook as usual.
It has become a major headache for government agencies and officials to disclose information on fraud, corruption and misuse of state institutions through this Act. He further added that the incident in Kopai was the latest in a series of incidents that he has to encounter when using the Right to Information Act..
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