New Delhi: A national body championing the RTI cause has written to the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar demanding that an inquiry be ordered into the murder of RTI activist Bipin Agarwal and the subsequent death of his 14-year old son by suicide.In the letter, sent on April 8, the National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information said Bipin Agarwal – who had been accessing information using the RTI Act on land encroachment and had also reportedly requested police protection as he had been attacked in 2020 as well – was murdered in broad daylight in September 2021.After his murder, the NCPRI wrote, the family had been struggling for justice and his eldest son was trying to get the police to take action against those involved in the murder. Anguished at the lack of police action in arresting the main accused, the letter said, the boy died by suicide at Motihar in East Champaran district of Bihar.Although the letter mentions the boy’s name, The Wire is withholding it as he was a minor.“As per a video put out by [boy’s name]’s grandfather, on March 24, 2022, [he] had gone to the police station to submit a memorandum seeking arrest of the main accused persons and he allegedly waited there for several hours to try and meet senior officials,” the NCPRI wrote.Also read: Attacks on RTI Activists Are Rising. We Need Accountability LawsIt added that after the boy’s death, as per the grandfather, the police was pressurising the family to say that he died by suicide due to personal reasons.“The murder of Bipin and the death of his son…points to the abject failure of the state machinery in protecting whistleblowers and their families. The role of the police and administration needs to be investigated and accountability needs to be fixed for the failure to firstly protect Bipin Agarwal and after his death, to investigate and prosecute the main accused in a time-bound manner,” the body demanded.It also charged that the state did not assist the family in their quest for justice.“The apathy of the state has resulted in the death of [the boy],” it said, adding that “the incidents of attacks and killings of RTI users has been continuing unabated with impunity in Bihar.”The letter is signed by prominent RTI activists Anjali Bhardwaj, Nikhil Dey, Venkatesh Nayak, Pankti Jog, Dr. Shaikh, Pradip Pradhan, Rakesh Dubbudu, Ashish Ranjan, Shailesh Gandhi, Amrita Johri, Kathyayini Chamraj, Vipul Mudgal, Bhaskar Prabhu, Ajay Jangid, Karuna M., Chakradhar, Abey George, Rolly Shivhare and Ashok Kumar.The signatories have called upon Nitish Kumar to set up an inquiry under a retired judge.It said the role of the police and officials should be properly inquired into. The family, it said, must immediately be provided appropriate compensation.The NCPRI also asked the government of Bihar to provide protection to whistleblowers by adopting a state-level whistleblowers’ protection law. It said this was essential as the Union government has failed to operationalise the Whistleblowers Protection Act passed by parliament in 2014 as it has not promulgated the rules for the Act.