The threat to press freedom in India

Source: indianexpress.com

Since 1992, there have been the deaths of 68 journalists recorded in India and the number seems to be ever climbing.

Press freedom has reduced further and further across the last decade and this year India dropped by two ranks on the press freedom rankings put forward by ‘Reporters Without Borders’ down to number 138. India has never been a safe haven to journalists and reporters but what we are currently witnessing is the beginning of a society that are becoming more and more afraid to speak out against global and national injustices in fear of the consequences that they may face.

The birth of a society so invested in the deaths of media persona, had most considerably sparked after the death of Gauri Lakshmi in September of 2017. The journalist had been a known critic of the right wing and consistently voiced her opinions towards the declining democracy that India is currently experiencing. Consequently, she was shot dead outside of her home in Rajarajeshwari.

The initial reaction to this incident was the mourning of hundreds of Indians for a woman who had represented and exposed the injustices they had faced. But this soon evolved into a trend of seeking out more victims who would suffer the same fate. The killing had initiated a wave of social media trends all focussing on how this particular murder would be sure to begin the trend of silencing media individuals. Eventually social media users, political members and so called “nationalists”, had curated a sort of “hit list”, targeting all those who had essentially stepped out of line regarding their work.

The death of Gauri Laneksh had served as an example to journalists seen as “antinationalist’s” and over the last year has created a series of assassinations. This has seen the deaths of numerous journalists and reporters including: Santanu Bhowmik, reporter with the Din Raat news channel, KJ Singh, editor of the Indian Express, alongside his mother, and most recently Shujaat Bukhari, editor of the Rising Kashmir.

The irony of the situation is that those carrying out the killings and threats claim to have the blessings of the Indian Prime Minister himself, and as if to almost show his support and praise he is known to be following several their twitter handles. All of this is occurring whilst Narendra Modi claims to be fighting to maintain and uphold the state of press freedom in India.

In instances where media individuals are not killed, they are made to endure severe public humiliation and threats. This is evident in the case of Rana Ayyub, an independent reporter working in Mumbai. She has faced multiple death threats and was the victim of public humiliation when her face was edited into a pornographic video and then shared with her friends and family in a bid to stop her from investigating and then reporting. Whilst Modi and his government made light of the situation, it was the UN who had reportedly called upon India to protect the journalist from coming to harm. As of yet, the Indian police have failed to respond to her complaint and prosecute anyone.

Every week multiple pleas are made to the Prime Minister to finally act on his plans to better the welfare of the media. Unfortunately, in addition to these appeals being blatantly ignored, Modi and his BJP spokespeople have denied such anti-social behaviour even occurring, especially of those whom he follows.

Essentially, whilst the UN have begun to show initiative in protecting individual reporters, there is a large amount of responsibility to still be taken. When Western reporters encounter even the smallest amount of danger, it is made public news to the world immediately, but in instances where journalists in small towns are endangered, the media community and officials need to put far more pressure upon the BJP to change a seemingly toxic democracy in India.

Thank you for reading!

Aman