Uttar Pradesh: 12 journalists killed in five years in Uttar Pradesh, 138 cases of assault : CAAJ report claims

According to the report of the Committee Against Attacks on Journalists (CAAJ), a total of 138 cases of attacks on journalists have been registered in Uttar Pradesh in the last five years.  In this, 75 percent of the cases occurred during the corona period between 2021 and 2021. Not only this, according to the report, a total of 12 journalists were killed in the state between 2017 and January 2022. While these reported cases may be much less than the actual number.

UP: Know how many attacks and murders on journalists have occurred in which year

The report claimed that journalists have faced maximum attacks from the state and the administration. These attacks have come in the form of legal notices, FIRs, arrests, detentions, espionage, threats, and violence. According to the report, in the year 2020, a total of seven journalists Rakesh Singh, Suraj Pandey, Uday Paswan, Ratan Singh, Vikram Joshi, Faraj Aslam, and Shubham Mani Tripathi were killed in the state. Rakesh Singh's case has also been reported in many places in the name of Rakesh Singh 'Nirbhik'. In Balrampur, he was killed by miscreants by setting his house on fire. Reporters Without Borders' investigation reveals that he was killed for exposing corruption. Rakesh Singh was associated with Rashtriya Swaroop newspaper. Shubham Mani Tripathi of Unnao was also writing against the sand mafia and had received threats.

He also appealed to the police for protection but he was shot. Journalist Vikram Joshi was also shot in broad daylight in Ghaziabad. In the same year, TV journalist Ratan Singh was also shot in Phephna, Ballia. Journalist Uday Paswan and his wife were murdered by gangsters in the Barwadih village of Sonbhadra. In Unnao, the body of English journalist Suraj Pandey was found under suspicious circumstances on a railway track. 

Police called it suicide but the family accused a female sub-inspector and a male constable, calling it murder, after which they were arrested. At the same time, Faraz Aslam was murdered in Kaushambi on 7 October 2020. Fara was a correspondent with Paigam-e-Dil.

The list of incidents of physical assault with intent to hurt and harass journalists is also very long. At least 50 journalists were physically assaulted over the course of five years. If we look at the number and severity after the murder, then the cases of legal cases and notices have been the most serious especially in 2020 and 2021. Journalists have also had to face interrogation, custody, etc., after being called to the police station.