RTI activist faces obscene calls, trolls, defamation cases, death threats

Fighting corruption is not an easy game and its price is too high. One only has to ask RTI and social activist Anjali Damania about it. “There are 28 defamation cases against me, life threats and obscene calls at odd hours; this is what my life has become for raising my voice against corruption,” says Damania.

Damania and a few other activists had filed a PIL alleging that former revenue, agriculture and excise minister Eknath Khadse has amassed disproportionate assets, questioned the luxurious limousine owned by Khadse’s son-in-law and the bribery case in his office. She had levelled several allegations against Khadse in the Bhosri (in Pune) land deal case as a result of which he had to resign in June 2015. The state government had appointed an inquiry commission under retired judge Zoting. The commission, in its report, reportedly gave a clean chit to Khadse. After that, a defamation case was filed against Damania.

“All of this is happening because I’m following up on the corruption cases against Khadse. I had filed a protest petition against the report submitted by ACB and this is a water-tight case. I live with my in-laws and they both are above 80 years, so we can’t switch off our phones either. Our live has become horrible,” said Damania, a former Aam Aadmi Party leader.

According to Damania, she filed a protest petition against the report submitted by Anti Corruption Bureau in the alleged Khadse land scam on April 27, 2018. She alleges that the report is a sham. “He has begun various tactics to put pressure on me to back off and the number of defamation cases has gone up to 28 from 22,” she added.

“Nothing has happened in the case which I am fighting against Khadse, the former revenue minister of BJP. The criminal PIL which I have filed in the high court are against his (Khadse) disproportionate assets and I have given all proofs of the scams in which he is allegedly involved. I wrote to the ACB August 1, 2017, showcasing how money has been transferred from certain companies declared fraud by the Central government into Khadse’s and his wife’s accounts and from that the land at Bhosri was purchased. The state government spent Rs 45 lakh of tax payers’ money to investigate the case and yet the ACB did not file a legitimate report. That is what led me to file a protest petition,” explained Damania.

After she complained about these calls, a resident of West Bengal was arrested and he reportedly confessed that he had made the calls after getting her number from the toilet of a train. The number of calls decreased, but the calls spiked recently as the notice was pasted again in the toilet number four of Coach number S2 of Yeshwantpur Express.

“I’m tired of all this harassment. How do I fight corruption? There are 28 defamation cases, 16 in all 15 taluka courts of Jalgaon, five cases in five different taluka courts of Dhule, four cases out of six are in taluka courts, one each in Nashik, Jalna, Buldhana. In Jalna, it is in Partur court, which is 90 km away. Two FIRs, three threats and my mobile number was put on trains in Jalgaon and Bhusawal and now again on another one,” said a strong-willed Damania.

This is not all. “Khadse, on his birthday in September, had made some obscene remarks, against which I filed a FIR. After the FIR was filed, I received a threatening call on September 23 and on this app ‘Truecaller’, the caller was shown to be Dawood 2. The caller asked me to withdraw all the cases against Eknath Khadse. He said, “Tune jina haram kar rakha hai sabka. Teri family hai na…” (You have made life miserable for everybody. You also have a family),” said Damania. They were able to find out that it was a call from a landline in Karachi.

Despite all the harassment, Damania is firm that she will not end her fight against corruption.

“My children and friends ask me in anger why I need to do all this, but I will not bow down before these people and will continue my fight and am ready to face any consequences. God is great, I will fight this person either till his grave or my grave,” said Damania emphatically.