A Shadowy Past and a Sudden Exit: Assam's Information Chief Steps Down Amidst Old Questions

The news dropped like a stone, quiet yet impactful: Bhaskar Mahanta, the Chief Information Commissioner of Assam, had resigned. Citing "personal reasons" and, well, "health grounds," one might have simply nodded and moved on. But, and here’s the kicker, the story, in truth, runs a little deeper, a little more intertwined with the state's past.

You see, this wasn't just any resignation. It arrived on the heels of an RTI query – a Right to Information request, for those unfamiliar – that dared to pry open a rather uncomfortable chapter from 2006. That year, Jitul Garg, the younger brother of Assam's beloved cultural icon, Zubeen Garg, died under circumstances that, frankly, remained shrouded in controversy. Police custody, they said, at the Basistha Police Station in Guwahati. And a probe committee was formed; naturally, questions lingered for years.

Now, fast forward to the present day. An RTI activist named Ramen Kumar Borah decided, for whatever reason, to ask for the details of that very 2006 probe committee. Fair enough, you could say. But here's where Mahanta’s situation became, shall we put it, untenable. Turns out, during that 2006 incident, Bhaskar Mahanta wasn't just a distant observer; he was a senior police official, an Inspector General of Police (IGP) in fact, and, yes, a member of the very inquiry committee that looked into Jitul Garg's death.

The dilemma? Rather stark, wouldn't you agree? As the Chief Information Commissioner, Mahanta was meant to be the final arbiter, the impartial judge overseeing appeals related to information disclosure. How could he, in good conscience, hear an appeal concerning an investigation he himself was part of? It’s a classic conflict of interest, an ethical tightrope walk that few could navigate without tripping.

Initially, Mahanta did the honorable thing: he recused himself. He formally declared that he couldn't preside over the appeal because of his prior involvement. But that wasn't, it seems, enough to quell the whispers or the inherent awkwardness of the situation. Soon after, his resignation letter arrived. While ostensibly citing health, sources suggest, and his own actions imply, that the RTI matter and his recusal weighed heavily on the decision. It’s almost as if the past, once stirred, demanded a reckoning.

And it's not an isolated incident either, mind you. His predecessor, Haren P. Borah, faced a strikingly similar predicament, having to recuse himself from an RTI appeal involving a past case where he too had served on an inquiry committee. It makes you wonder, doesn't it, about the echoes of history, and how sometimes, the only way forward is to step aside when the past refuses to stay buried.