In the 27 cases of journalists murdered for their work in India since CPJ began keeping records in 1992, there have been no convictions. More than half of those killed reported regularly on corruption. The cases of Jagendra Singh, Umesh Rajput, and Akshay Singh, who died between 2011 and 2015, show how small-town journalists face greater risk in their reporting than those from larger outlets, and how India’s culture of impunity is leaving the country’s press vulnerable to threats and attacks. A special report by the Committee to Protect Journalists
Foreword: Journalism as well as journalists in danger from failure to stand up for India’s press
P. Sainath
This report by the Committee to Protect Journalists does more than tell us that reporting in India can be a dangerous business. Rural and small-town journalists are at greater risk of being killed in retaliation for their work than those in the big cities but, as this report shows, factors such as a journalist’s location, outlet, level in the profession’s hierarchy, and social background add to that risk. The language a reporter writes in and, most importantly, what they are writing about—especially if it challenges the powerful—increase the vulnerability.
Impunity and lack of solidarity expose India’s journalists to attack
By Sumit Galhotra
Corruption scandals make for attention-grabbing headlines, but when journalists who expose wrongdoing are killed, their murder is often the end of the story. For eight years India has been a fixture on the Committee to Protect Journalists’ annual Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where journalists are slain and their killers go free. Perpetrators are seldom arrested and CPJ has not recorded a single conviction upheld in any of the cases of journalists murdered in India in direct relation to their work.
Covered in burns and writhing in pain, Jagendra Singh cries out, “They could have arrested me. Why did they have to beat me and set me on fire?” In the video, filmed at a hospital in Lucknow where Jagendra Singh was being treated for burns that covered 60 percent of his body, the journalist accuses a police officer, Sriprakash Rai, and his team, of dousing him in gasoline and setting him alight. A week after the attack, Jagendra Singh died from his injuries.
Parmeshwar Rajput walked exhausted into his lawyer’s office in Bilaspur, weighed down by a black bag filled with court documents, police records, and newspaper clippings about his brother’s death, after the six-hour train and motorbike journey he had taken from his village of Hirabatar so he could meet with CPJ. The 36-year-old is accustomed to frequently traveling with these files. They are his only hope that the killers of his brother, Umesh Rajput, will be brought to justice.
“After his death, I am left alone with the responsibility of taking care of my family,” Pakshi Singh said during a phone call. Nearly a year after losing her brother, the investigative journalist Akshay Singh, she was still unable to speak. She told CPJ that she struggles to sleep, adding: “What more can I say? He was the greatest kind of human being.”
Pursuit of truth comes at heavy price for India’s Right to Information activists
By Aayush Soni
Ever since India’s Right to Information Act was passed in 2005, it has empowered citizens to challenge the opaqueness of state and federal government decision-making. Activists across India have used the act to expose wrongdoing such as illegal mining, and to act as a watchdog on political processes. In many cases, the details these activists unearth are later reported on by the mainstream media.
Cases of journalists murdered in direct retaliation for their work between 1992 and July 2016. A full list of journalists killed in relation to their work, alongside cases that CPJ is investigating, can be found here.Details of CPJ's methodology for killed cases can be found here.
Do you believe the free flow of information must be protected? Sign the #RightToReport petition and demand that President Obama immediately:
1. Issue a presidential policy directive prohibiting the hacking and surveillance of journalists and media organizations.
2. Limit aggressive prosecutions that ensnare journalists and intimidate whistleblowers.
3. Prevent the harassment of journalists at the U.S. border.
Or click here to see the full petition, and join leading journalists like Christiane Amanpour, The Guardian’s Alan Rusbridger, Editor of the AP Kathleen Carroll, and Arianna Huffington in signing on.
