NEW DELHI: Media watchdog Reporters without Borders expressed alarm onWednesday about India, with seven journalists killed in the past 18 monthsand a sharp rise in online abuse and harassment.
“In 2017, the deaths of at least three journalists killed in connectionwith their work were recorded and a fourth case is still underinvestigation. In 2018, four journalists were killed in the country in thefirst six months,” RSF said.
“In addition, there has been a sharp increase in online abuse andharassment, and in the self-censorship which looms over the environment inwhich journalists carry out their work in ‘the world’s largest democracy’.”
RSF issued an “Incident Report”, an alert to warn about the deteriorationof press freedom, the first time the organisation has done so for anycountry.
It also warned India that it risked falling even further down its WorldPress Freedom Index from its current place of 138th out of 180.
The latest murder of a journalist was that of Shujaat Bukhari, editor of anEnglish language daily in the disputed region of Kashmir, gunned downoutside the paper’s office on June 14.
More than 40 journalists have been killed in India since 1992, according tothe US-based Committee to Protect Journalists.Reporters in India often face harassment and intimidation by police,politicians, bureaucrats and criminal gangs.
RSF also took the Indian government to task over online hate campaigns andharassment by “armies of trolls” associated with Hindu nationalists loyalto Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It cited the case of journalist Rana Ayyub being subjected to a “hellishnightmare” of online hate messages, sexist insults, faked pornographicvideos and calls for her to be gang-raped and murdered.
Ayyub’s recent book “Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up” allegesgovernment complicity in anti-Muslim violence during the 2002 riots in thewestern state of Gujarat when Modi was its chief minister.Ayyub’s ordeal has also earned the Indian government criticism from theUnited Nations special rapporteurs. – APP/AFP