Democracy needs fearless press

The murder of the renowned journalist Gauri Lankesh on September 5 has again brought into sharp focus the bitter truth that freedom of expression is merely on paper. In practice, sane and inconvenient voices will be silenced. Gauri’s was the second murder of a journalist in India this year -- Kamlesh Jain, a reporter for the Hindi daily Nai Duniya, was shot dead in Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh on May 31. Globally, some 45 journalists have met the same fate this year. 

In the aftermath of the arrest of Gurmeet Ram Rahim last month, the victims, witnesses, investigating officers and the judges were all applauded for their derring-do that resulted in bringing the rapist to justice. But the journalists reporting on it all did not receive any kudos for having done their job in the face of risks and the actual ordeal many of them underwent. Many of them suffered injuries, some of them barely escaped being lynched, and their OB vans and other vehicles were set on fire and damaged by Ram Rahim’s goons.

In 2002, journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati lost his life for exposing the rapist ‘Baba’ in his evening tabloid Pura Sach. Undeterred by the killing of his father, Anshul Chhatrapati persisted with his legal battle against the all-powerful Ram Rahim. While politicians of all hues and policemen paid obeisance at his feet, this father-son duo had the guts and the gumption to take him on. While the father paid a heavy price, succumbing to fatal bullet injuries in November 2002, the son carried on his mission.

Such was his determination to get justice for his father that he did not give in to the threats of the goons or the police who, while recording the statement of Ram Chander Chhatrapati, deliberately avoided in their report mentioning that it was the goons of Ram Rahim that had shot him, despite the dying journalist’s insistence. Anshul’s efforts yielded results. The next hearing in the murder case is scheduled for September 16.

The family of one of the rape victims who deposed before the CBI judge had in the past held several press conferences over a period of 15 years to expose the rapist Ram Rahim. But their efforts did not get them the nation-wide attention they should have got. The chilling effect of the murder of Chhatrapati and Ram Rahim’s powerful connections meant that much of the media preferred to play safe rather than taking on him.

A prominent politician of Bihar, Mohammed Shahabuddin, a former MLA of Lalu Yadav’s RJD, is facing trial for the murder of Rajdev Ranjan, the Sivan bureau chief of the Hindi daily Hindustan, in May last year. Shahabuddin is presently in Tihar jail for a double murder in 2004. The police-politician nexus is too evident in this case, too, as the police had not even mentioned Shahabuddin in its FIR. It was only after the CBI took over the case that Shahabuddin’s name was added as a supplementary chargesheet.

In yet another case of a brutal murder, freelance journalist Jagendra Singh was set on fire by six policemen on June 1, 2015, in Shahjahanpur. His fault? He had exposed Ram Murti Verma, a minister in Uttar Pradesh, for his corrupt ways and even involvement in instances of gang rape. Although the journalist had in his dying declaration before an Inspector General of Police and a judicial officer narrated the incident and said the minister and the policemen had set him on fire, the police maintained that the forensic reports suggested that the journalist had attempted to immolate himself.

The family was persuaded not to insist on a CBI investigation into the case and was lured into accepting a solatium of Rs 30 lakh and government jobs for two members of Singh’s family. No one has been arrested in the case so far.

Price for probity

Between January 2016 and April this year, there were 54 attacks on journalists in India. Just 32 culprits were arrested for 114 incidents in 2014, while 41 were arrested for 28 attacks on journalists in 2015. Out of 122 journalists killed globally in 2016, five were killed in India.

Of the 27 journalists killed in our country since 1992, 89% were from the print media, and over half of them were killed for exposing corruption. In comparison, Pakistan has suffered more casualties, losing 60 journalists since 2000, although 2016 was a casualty-free year. Only in three cases of murder — that of Daniel Pearl, Wali Babar and Ayub Khattak — the assailants were arrested.

India was rated amongst the three most dangerous nations in 2015, with nine journalists killed out of the 115 the world over. Pakistan and Afghanistan boasted of a better record. Iraq and Syria figured on the top with 11 and 10 journalists killed in the war-torn nations, respectively. France, Yemen and Mexico lost eight journalists each while in Sudan, Phillipines and Honduras seven lost their lives in each.

Journalists continue to be at grave risk, with threats being issued freely. The government must ensure that the assailants of journalists are promptly arrested so as to serve as a deterrent to others.

Taking a serious note, the Committee to Protect Journalists has recommended to the government that a committee be set up to draft a safety and protection mechanism for  journalists, as has been done in Columbia and Mexico, and improve the responsiveness of the police and judiciary to attacks on journalists. Other recommendations include a parliamentary hearing on the issue of violence against journalists and declaration ofNovember 2 – the day Ram Chander Chhatrapati was shot -- as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.

The State has the sacred responsibility of providing security to all citizens of the country, but an important subset of this is the responsibility to ensure the safety and security of journalists whose work in keeping society informed and vigilant is critical to the upholding of democracy.

(The writer is IGP (rtd), CRPF)