The suspicious deaths of two journalists in Bihar and one journalist in Madhya Pradesh has reignited the debate on the safety of mediapersons and the freedom of press in India.
According to the not-for-profit organisation, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) 72 journalists have murdered in India between 1992 and 2017.
UN chief Antonio Guterres expressed a similar concern.
While responding to a question on the UN’s reaction to the recent deaths of Indian journalists in the line of duty, Farhan Haq, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ deputy spokesperson said, “We, of course, are concerned about anything that would suggest the harassment or violence against journalists, anywhere in the world and… and would do so in this case.”
No Country for Journalists?
35-year-old Sandeep Sharma was mowed down by a truck in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhind district on the morning of 26 March. Sharma, who worked for a national TV news channel, had reported on a government officer being in collusion with the sand mafia.
Sharma had earlier approached the police citing a threat to his life. A Special Investigation Team was formed to probe the case, after family members and other journalists alleged that Sharma had been murdered.
Sharma’s colleague Vikas Purohit, who witnessed the collision, told the CPJ that he took Sharma to the local hospital where the journalist was declared dead from injuries sustained in the crash, reported PTI.
Purohit said both he and Sharma began receiving anonymous death threats last year after publishing two stories in July and October 2017 on alleged police corruption and illegal sand mining.
In a similar incident, two journalists were crushed to death by a speeding SUV in Bihar’s Bhojpur district on Sunday, 25 March. They were allegedly run over by the car of the village council head and his men in Bhojpur, around 80 kms from Patna.
Advocacy group The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the killings, and called on the Indian authorities to determine the motive and bring to justice those responsible for Sharma’s death.
Authorities must thoroughly investigate the killing of journalist Sandeep Sharma and determine if he was targeted because of his reporting.CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler from Washington DC
"This tragic incident may well be a failure of local authorities to provide adequate security to a reporter who had received death threats," he said.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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