9 Journalists Who Were Mercilessly Silenced For Exposing The Truth

The gruesome murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh once again highlighted the perils of being a journalist in India. Though they call Press, the fourth estate of democracy, the journalists who play the role of watchdog are perhaps the most unsafe bunch of people whose life neither holds any value nor any significance beyond the veil of rhetoric.

According to the reports of Reporter Without Borders, India is the third most unsafe places for journalists after Syria and Iraq which by virtue of their respective turmoil are war zones.

Since 1992, close to 70 journalists have lost their lives and if the Committee to Protect Journalists¡¯ claims are anything to go by as many as 46 percent journalists who were killed while working were covering politics; 35 per cent of them were covering corruption.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are better than India

This would surprise many that even states like Pakistan and Afghanistan whom we often refer as failed states fare far better than India when it comes to the safety of journalists. In 2015, Pakistan has seen deaths of only two journalists whereas Afghanistan despite being a conflict zone has seen none.

AFP

Freedom of Press a thing of past world¡¯s largest democracy

In the Freedom of Press index, India ranks 136 out of 180 countries and it¡¯s just three places above Pakistan whereas our other neighbours like Bhutan and Nepal were placed at 84th and 100th rank, respectively. Countries including Ghana (26), The Dominican Republic (59), Sierra Leone (85), Nicaragua (92) and Chad (121) fare better than what India does.

Local reporters are most vulnerable

The CPJ report claims that at least 27 journalists have been murdered in direct retaliation for their work in India since 1992. And what makes it worst that in most of the cases the killer go free without getting punished. India ranks 13th on Impunity Index ¡ª after Russia, Bangladesh and Nigeria.

Reuters

If reports are to be believed, nearly 96 per cent of the victims of these murders is local reporters with the same percentage of the cases that go unsolved. Since 1992, only three Indian journalists have died covering the war.

Here are some of the gruesome murders of the journalists lately indeed made headlines, but in most of the cases, the perpetrators of the crime are still unpunished.

1. Santanu Bhowmick

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Bhowmick, a political journalist from Din Raat news channel, was beaten to death while covering the road blockade by the Indigenous People¡¯s Front of Tripura (IPFT) that had turned violent. Inspite of identifying himself as a journalist, he was fatally attacked with sharp weapons.

2. Ram Chander Chhatrapati

Chhatrapati was murdered for exposing Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the rape case levelled against the self-proclaimed god. Chhatrapati was the publisher of a local Hindi newspaper, Poora Sach (Complete Truth), that brought the rape case to the forefront, based on an anonymous letter written by a sadhvi accusing Ram Rahim of raping her.

3. Gauri Lankesh

Senior journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh was murdered by three unknown assailants who shot her dead right at the gates of her house in Bangaluru on September 5, 2017. Gauri was well known for her stand against Hindu Right-wing violence against minorities in India.

4. Tarun Mishra

On February 13, 2016, in Sultanpur, UP, Sandesh Times Bureau chief Tarun Mishra was killed in broad daylight. Mishra was travelling in his car when he was assailed by two gunmen on a motorcycle.

5. Indradev Yadav aka Akhilesh Pratap Yadav

In May 2016, TV journalist Indradev Yadav who reported for TaazaTV, a Kolkata based Hindu news outlet was shot dead by unidentified assailants near his home in Chatra in Jharkhand.

6. Rajdeo Ranjan

This murder had made the cut in national headlines. In May 2016 again, 42-year-old Rajdeo Ranjan, the bureau chief of Dainik Hindustan, was killed by a gang of criminals on motorcycles while he was on his way home from the office in Bihar¡¯s Siwan. Ranjan worked for Dainik Hindustan, one of Bihar's largest selling newspapers.

7. Kishore Dave

In August 2016, senior journalist Kishore Dave, the bureau chief of a Gujarati newspaper called Jai Hind was murdered while he was reportedly working on a story. Police later revealed that personal enmity might be the reason behind his murder.

8. Dharmendra Singh

In November 2016, 35-year-old Dainik Bhaskar reporter Dharmendra Singh was shot dead at a roadside tea stall during his morning walk in Bihar. The police said three men on a motorcycle shot Singh and sped away. Singh¡¯s reports on local stone mafia had brought him many threats in past as well.

9. Jagendra Singh

This case in 2015 where a journalist who ran a Facebook page Shahajahanpur Samachar was burnt alive for goons which allegedly included policemen as well have brought out the peril of being a journalist.

Jagendra Singh wrote extensively about alleged corruption of one Ram Murti Singh Verma, a minister in the then Akhilesh Yadav government of Uttar Pradesh. As a result, he was burnt alive. While he was waiting for death in the hospital he said, ¡°Why did they have to burn me? If the minister and his goondas had a grudge, they could have beaten me instead of pouring kerosene and burning me.¡±

Well, there are reasons why journalism is ranked among the worst professions in the world because neither offers enough remuneration nor any security. Therefore journalists are perhaps most forsaken lot when it comes to safety and security of being a professional of any profession.