AMN / Guwahati
Journalists’ Forum Assam (JFA) expressed concerns over
incidents of attacks on scribes across the country and urged the
concerned authorities to investigate the motives behind those assaults
and punish the culprits accordingly.
The last incident has been reported from Bihar, where Pradeep Mandal
was shot at by two culprits at Sarsopahi Bazar locality of Madhubani
district on 28 July. Pradeep (36 years old), who used to contribute
for Hindi daily Dainik Jagaran, received severe injuries and was rushed
to Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital for treatments.
The young scribe has reported against the local liquor mafia, as Bihar
is a liquor-free State, and thus invited enmity from those goons. The
police have already identified the criminals as Sushil Shah and Ashok
Kamat who targeted Pradeep on the fateful day.
Earlier three incidents of journo-murders were reported from
Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh since 1 January this year, however all
three cases need specific investigations if the victims were targeted
because of their journalistic exercises.
A magazine editor from Bhiwandi locality of Maharashtra was found killed on 17 March. Nityanand Pandey (44), who edited India Unbound,
was understandably conspired to kill by his lady receptionist-cum-assistant to take revenge of repeated sexual harassments on her by Pandey. The police have already arrested the lady along with another individual suspecting their role in the murder.
Later one more journalist from Maharashtra was killed by unidentified persons on 4 June. Anand Narayan (38), who was slaughtered by two
criminals in his Mumbai residence died on way to the hospital. The
police have arrested both the criminals with whom Narayan lately
started a business after leaving his job in a news channel few years
back.
The third incident was reported from Shahgarh locality of Madhya
Pradesh, where a freelance journalist found dead with 90% burn
injuries on 19 June. Chakresh Jain (40) reportedly had confrontations with a government officer (Aman Chowdhary) and they pursued a legal
dispute for some years. On a fateful day Jain arrived at Chowdhary’s
residence and faced the burning, where the host too sustained 30 %
injuries.
India lost six journalists (Navin Nischal, Vijay Singh, Sandeep
Sharma, Syed Shujaat Bukhari, Achyuta N Sahu and Chandan Tiwari) to
assailants last year. However 2017 was the deadliest year as 12
scribes (Hari Prakash, Brajesh Kumar Singh, Shyam Sharma, Kamlesh
Jain, Surender Singh Rana, Gauri Lankesh, Shantanu Bhowmik, KJ Singh,
Rajesh Mishra, Sudip Datta Bhaumik, Naveen Gupta and Rajesh Sheoran)
were either murdered or died in suspicious situations.
“We wish a fast recovery to Pradeep, who is undergoing treatments at
the hospital” said a statement issued by JFA president Rupam Barua
and secretary Nava Thakuria adding that committed journalists often
invite enmities from the law-breaking entities while pursuing the
profession and hence they should be offered due security and
acknowledgements by society in general.