A Bench comprising Justices Sandeep Mehta and Vijay Bishnoi dismissed the plea filed by RTI activist Rakesh Kumar Behl and his aide, challenging a Punjab and Haryana High Court order that had denied them anticipatory bail.
During the hearing, Justice Mehta remarked that “RTI activism has become a new business,” questioning the role of private individuals in supervising government-funded infrastructure projects. “The Central government has issued funds, and the authorities will take care of the road construction. You are nobody. So-called RTI activist. Yellow journalism,” he observed while rejecting the plea.
Justice Bishnoi concurred, asking the petitioner what authority he possessed to monitor road projects. “Who are you to monitor the construction of all these roads? Are you some superior authority or what?” he said.
Counsel appearing for Behl argued that his client had been falsely implicated because he had raised concerns about alleged corruption in the road construction project.
According to the FIR, Behl and co-accused Rajiv Kumar, alias Mintu, allegedly interfered with an ongoing road construction project in Batala, located in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district. The complaint alleges that they obstructed the work, intimidated the supervising official and labourers present at the site, used abusive language, and caused injuries to the complainant.
Following the incident, police registered a case under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, along with provisions of the SC/ST Act.
In its May 14 order, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had observed that the FIR contained specific allegations demonstrating the accused persons’ direct involvement in obstructing government work. The court, therefore, declined to grant anticipatory bail, a decision that has now been upheld by the Supreme Court.
