By Nava Thakuria
Indian subcontinent continues to remain as a dangerous place for scribes to pursue the critical journalism. As the year 2016 ends with the cumulative statistics of 16 journo-murder incidents in India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, the broader region emerges as an unsafe place for media persons similar to Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Libya etc, where journalists are being deliberately attacked.The largest democracy in the globe witnessed the murder of six journalists in 2016, where as its immediate neighbors including Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet (China), Maldives and Sri Lanka had not reported any incident of journo-murders in that period. Of course, Afghanistan (journo-casualty 5), Pakistan (3), Bangladesh (1) and Myanmar (1) lost their brave scribes to assailants in the year.
According to the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), over 70 professional and non-professional journalists were killed worldwide in connection with their profession in 2016. Syria, like the previous years, topped the list with 14 journo-casualties, which was followed by Yemen (6), Iraq (6), Libya (3), Somalia (3), Turkey (2), Mexico (2) etc.
India’s troubled neighbor Pakistan lost Mehmood Khan (Dawn News), Shehzad Ahmed (Aaj News) and Muhammad Umar (Daily Dera News) to assailants in 2016, but Afghanistan lost more scribes (Nematullah Zahir from Ariana News, David Gilkey from National Public Radio, Zabihullah Tamanna from National Public Radio, Yaqoub Sharafat from Radio Television Afghanistan and Mohammad Zubair Khaksar from Nangarhar Radio & Television) in that period.
Bangladesh reported the killing of one editor (Xulhaz Mannan, who edited a lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender community magazine named Roopbaan) and a netizen (Samad Nazijmuddin of Ganajagaran Mancha) to criminals. The Muslim dominated country also imprisoned Rahman Mahmudur of Amar Desh (since April 2013), Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury of Weekly Blitz (January 2014), Salam Abdus of Ekushey TV (January 2015), Kanak Sarwar of Ekushey TV (March 2015) and Rimon Rahman of Amader Rajshahi (September 2015).
Myanmar, which has been changing from a military regime to the multiparty democracy, also lost one journalist to assailants in 2016.
The Sagaing region based scribe named Soe Moe Tun, who worked for Daily Eleven newspaper was targeted by the illegal logging mafia. The NayPieTaw based regime has also imprisoned few journalists namely Lu Maw Naing of Unity (since January 2014), Aung Thura of Unity (February 2014), Sithu Soe of Unity (February 2014), Yarzar Oo of Unity (February 2014) and Tint San of Unity (February 2014).
Tibet (as well China) was also devoid of any journo-murder incident in 2016, but the Communist regime in Beijing imprisoned as more as 49 scribes and 81 netizens. Similarly, Thailand witnessed no casualty of scribes, but the Bangkok based government jailed two scribes namely Somyot Prueksakasemsuk of Voice of Taksin (since April 2011) and Nut Rungwon/Somsak Pakdeedech of Thai E-News (May 2014).
According to the year ending round-up by the Paris based Reporters Sans/Without Borders (RSF), altogether 348 journalists are currently detained in various parts of the world. The newly emerged disturbed nation Turkey increased the number of detained/arrested scribe & media-contributors up to 100 in the year.
“Aside from Turkey, the three other biggest jailers of journalists are China, Iran and Egypt. They alone account for more than two thirds of the world’s detained journalists,†said a RSF statement adding that the persecution of journalists around the world is growing at a shocking rate.
Meanwhile, a total of 52 journalists are currently held hostage. This year, all of them are in conflict zones in the Middle East.
Unsurprisingly, Syria and Iraq are among the most dangerous countries, with the Islamic State alone holding 21 of these hostages, asserted the statement.
India’s first incident of journalist murders in 2016 was reported from Uttar Pradesh, where a young scribe named Tarun Mishra was shot dead on 13 February at Gosaiganj locality in Sultanpur district. Mishra (32) used to work for a Hindi daily (Jansandesh Times) and he was understandably targeted for highlighting the illegal soil mining activities in his district. Three motorcycle riding miscreants shot at him near to his residential locality in Ambedkar Nagar and Mishra succumbed to his severe injuries in the hospital.
The second incident took place in Chatra of Jharkhand, where a television news channel reporter was killed by the local goons. Two unidentified people targeted Indradev Yadav (also known as Akhilesh Pratap Singh) at Dewaria locality of Chatra district on 12 May. Yadav (35), who used to work for Taaza News, faced the bullets in front of the village Panchayat office and died on his way to the hospital.
The third case of journalist murder came to light from Bihar within 24 hours. Unidentified gunmen shot at Rajdeo Ranjan at Siwan railway station locality on 13 May. Working for a national Hindi newspaper named Hindustan, Ranjan (45) died in the hospital. The brave journalist reportedly earned enmity with local political goons for his reporting against their misdeeds.
Both the incidents created instant wave of protests in Ranchi as well as in Patna and then it spread to other parts of the country. Various local, national and international media (rights) bodies including the members of prestigious press clubs based in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati etc demonstrated their angers against the vicious attacks on scribes and demanded distinctive punishment to each & every single perpetrator of the crimes.
Shashi Shekhar, the chief editor of Hindustan narrated in his column that ‘journalism today is amongst the most dangerous professions in the world, but even though people get attracted to it, as the society needs truth and journalism is the most powerful medium to bring out that truth. We have made sacrifices and we will continue to do so, till it is necessary. The first target of this struggle will be to bring the killers of Rajdeo Ranjan to book under the law, added the column.
Another tragic incident came to light lately from Punjab, where a brave lady scribe named Anshita Bawa died under a mysterious ituation. Anshita on 22 April drove her vehicle to meet one of her friends, but she could not reach the location, rather her body was found floating in a canal at Bool locality of Sudhar areas.
Initially it was understood as an accident or a suicide case, but the post-mortem result narrated a different story. The autopsy report revealed that Anshita (22) was subjected to severe injuries before her death. She suffered nearly nine injuries with a fatal one on her head.
Under pressure from her family members, the local police registered an FIR terming it a case of murder.
The focus then shifted to relatively peaceful State of Gujarat, where a senior journalist was stabbed to death in his office on the night of 22 August. Kishore Dave (53) was attacked by miscreants when he was working in Junagadh office of Gujarati newspaper ‘Jai Hind’ and died on the spot. There was no security camera in the one-room office, where an office assistant later found Dave’s blood-soaked body lying on the floor.
The horror returned again to Bihar as another journalist fall prey to goons on 12 November. Dharmendra Kumar Singh, who used to work for Hindi daily ‘Dainik Bhaskar’ was targeted when the 38 years old scribe relaxed at a tea stall outside his residence during his morning walk at Amra Talaab locality Rohtas district.
Three motor cycle-borne assailants fired at him indiscriminately and succeeded in fleeing from the location. Singh was brought to the Sasaram hospital, but he succumbed to injuries on the way. Local journalists suspect that the stone-crusher mafia was involved in the murder as Singh exposed their illegal activities through recent pieces of reporting.
The killings understandably angered the media fraternity in India and abroad. Amidst protests by local journalist forums, many international media rights bodies including the CPJ, RSF, Press Emblem Campaign (PEC, Geneva) and International Press Institute (IPI, Vienna) etc strongly condemned the incidents and called for authentic
investigations into the murders. Those organizations also expressed concerns that India was slowly slipping down into a worst place for working journalists in media freedom parameters.
Facing the heat of condemnations, the Nitish Kumar led government in Patna recommended for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the murder of Rajdeo Ranjan. After registering the case under sections 302 (murder), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) etc of Indian Penal Code, the CBI had recently filed its first charge-sheet in the case. There are some progresses in police arrest and investigations over many journo-murder cases across the country, but none has got legally punished till date.
In 2015, India lost Jagendra Singh (Uttar Pradesh), Sandeep Kothari (Madhya Pradesh), Raghavendra Dube (Maharashtra), Hemant Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) and Mithilesh Pandey (Bihar) to assailants. Moreover, concerned authorities of the populous country jailed four freelance journalists namely Somaru Nag (since July 2015), Santosh Yadav (September 2015), Surinder Singh (October 2015) and Baltej Pannu (November 2015).
The year 2014 witnessed the murder of only two scribes (MVN Shankar from Andhra Pradesh and Tarun Kumar Acharya from Odisha), but the country lost 11 journalists including three northeastern media employees (Sujit Bhattacharya, Ranjit Chowdhury and Balaram Ghosh from Tripura) to perpetrators in the previous year.
The northeastern States, which previously witnessed the killing of over 30 journalists to perpetrators in the last 25 years, however remained safe for scribes in the last three consecutive years. The alienated region has however continued witnessing numerous incidents of threatening & assaults on media persons. Assam alone lost 15 newsmen to armed militants in the last three decades, but none has been convicted till date.
(The author is a northeast India based senior journalist and Secretary, Guwahati Press Club)
