Whistleblowing is a deadly affair

After Satyendra Dubey, it is now the turn of S Manjunath – both IIT/IIM graduates, both decided the favour the decrepit public sector in India.

Both exposed corruption during their work for which both have paid dearly with their lives.

Dubey exposed a huge swindle in the expensive national highway project, and he was killed in Bihar. Manjunath refused to take bribe give consent to the adulteration of petrol at an IOC booth of which he was an employee.

These are the new martyrs of independent India – an India where governance is free from foreign control, but where the people are still slaves to a corrupt bureaucracy.

Corruption is an accepted facet of life for most Indians – be it bribing the police, the council head, the hospital nurse or the school clerk.

But whistleblowing is an honorable technique against corruption – by exposing the malpractices in one’s marketplace.

Only some months back, I think it was after Satyendra Dubey’s murder, that the Indian Govt. enacted a law protecting whistleblowers and giving them unprecedented rights.

Dubey was honoured posthumously and the Indian Press rattled with his news for a few weeks after his unjust murder.

Dubey’s news is still warm in our minds now and Manjunath’s has come up. Corruption is a deadly force, but to safeguard corruption is extremely cheap.

And since when did guns become the weapon of choice for murder in India? This is a frightening news – that guns have become fashionable!

If the Govt. has the guts to put forth such path-breaking laws, then it should also have the integrity to enforce and maintain them. How will I expose the misdeeds of my boss if my whistleblowing act is protected, but not my life?

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2 Comments on “Whistleblowing is a deadly affair”

  • R.D.Pathak wrote on 4 February, 2009, 5:02

    In India, instead of rewarding whistleblowers, even GoI is launching criminal prosecution through CBI (the premier investigating agency of GoI) without even going into the merits of the complaints against corruption. The corruption has so much entered into the roots of the bureaucracy in GoI, that all the corrupted persons who share money join hands in getting the honest, loyal, patriot public servant, who has committed the sin of informing higher authorities in GoI about the misuse of GoI funds, malpractices committed in tenders, misuse of GoI funds. The only mistake committed by the sender is that he used the via media of anonymous/pseudonymous complaints, as he was fearing threat to his life for disclosing the misdeeds as the persons involved in corruption are very powerful persons. The authorities of GoI have not gone into the merits of the complaints but instead launched criminal prosecution through CBI. Even CBI has not gone into the subject matter and the misdeeds highlighted in the complaints and the documentary proof attached with the complaints. CBI has treated the whistleblower as a criminal and has made every effort to demoralise,destablise/put to disrespect in the office as well as the at the locality/place of residence. I have been facing this humiliation at the hands of CBI for the last 9 years. CBI has filed a charge sheet against me. I have been deprived even of my promotion and put to highest disrespect by GoI. My life has come to a standstill for the last 10 years and have also facing health hazard and have been given the posting of my entitlement for the last 11 years. I have already incurred a huge sum of hard earned money as litigation expenses for defending the criminal prosecution launched by CBI.
  • Sooraj wrote on 10 February, 2009, 0:25

    hi Pathak – you seem to be going through a lot right now. Would you like to explain your entire story and publish it on Indiblog so that you can expose what you claim to be corruption, inefficiency and wrongful accusation on the Government’s part? If you’re interested in writing about it, then you may do so by clicking on “Indibloggers” on the right column.

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