India right to information activist killed Published duration 17 August 2011

A right to information activist has been shot dead by an unidentified gunman in the northern Indian city of Bhopal, police said.

Shehla Masood was found with a gunshot wound in her car outside her home on Tuesday. She was on her way to an anti-corruption protest in the city.

Nearly a dozen right to information activists have been killed and scores other attacked in India since 2008.

The law allows Indians to access information held by the government.

Ms Masood, who also ran an event management company, had filed a number of right to information applications, a number of them related to wildlife conservation.

According to reports, last year she had informed the authorities that she "feared for her life" and had complained about it to the police chief.