Where does India stand in an Impunity index?

On the International Day to End Impunity, observed on November 23 to mark the Ampatuan massacre in which 32 journalists died in the Philippines in 2009, let’s take a look at how India fares in the impunity index.

Ten deaths since 2010; 24 attacks and ten threats in 2012 alone. That’s what we have from the Free Speech Tracker. (Click here for complete list).

According to a host of journalists’ organisations, India’s ranking on impunity and on freedom of expression is pathetic. The Committee to Protect Journalists has put India amongst the 12 nations worldwide who have five or more cases of impunity - where journalists deaths have not been either investigated or resulted in any convictions; Reporters without Borders (RSF) ranks India as 131 out of 179; Freedom House says that India is ‘partly free’ in internet freedom and of course Google’s Transparency report, released recently, provides damaging evidence that India is second only to the USA for seeking the take down of content.

The international Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) has launched a stirring campaign against impunity to mark the Ampatuan massacre. (The Amputan massacre marks the killing of 58 persons, including 32 journalists and media workers, on Nov 23, 2009. The journalists were covering the elections in the Philippines and the controversy over the filing of the candidacy of the then vice mayor (now governor) of Maguindanao, EsmaelMangudadatu. The others who died in the massacre include lawyers and election campaigners).

Closer home, in South Asia, Pakistan still ranks as the deadliest place for journalists. According to a report prepared by the South Asia Media Solidarity Network (SAMSN),the murder of SaleemShehzad in May 2011 marked the lowest point in its impunity index. In Sri Lanka, journalists have been forced into exile while others were either murdered, notably Sunday Leader editor LasanthaWickrematunge, or disappeared, like cartoonist PrageethEknaligoda. In Bangladesh, journalist couple SagarSarowar and MeherunRuni were murdered in February 2012 while in Nepal, the impunity that cloaks the deaths of journalist has resulted in a climate of self-censorship. 

The Free Speech Hub of the Hoot, which has been tracking freedom of expression since 2010, has the most chilling statistics: Ten journalists have lost their lives since 2010. Here’s our list:

Hemchandra Pandey(July 2010)

Bimala Prasad Talukdar(September 2010)

Sushil Pathak(December 2010)

Umesh Rajput (January 2011)

J Dey(June 2011)

Ramesh Singhla(October 2011)

Chandrika Rai(February 2012)

Rajesh Mishra (March 2012)

Raihan Nayum (Septemer 2012)

Chaitali Santra (September 2012)

Journalists’ organisationshave protested the deaths of Sushil Pathak, Umesh Rajput, J Dey and Chandrika Rai and forced either a police investigation or a CBI inquiry. However, the results have been depressing.

In Sushil Pathak’s case, the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister agreed to a CBI enquiry after opposition leaders joined in the chorus of demands from journalists’ organisations. But do we have the killers?

In Umesh Rajput’s case, a long-drawnout legal battle by his brother has forced police to name the accused. A narco analysis of them has revealed some of the planning to kill him and said that police most conduct a thorough investigation. Have they done so?

In J Dey’s case, a nation-wide outcry at the death in broad daylight in Mumbai, got police to pick up a number of people, including a fellow journalist JignaVora. But is the motive the police have made out – professional rivalry – convincing? 

In the brutal killing of  ChandrikaRai and his family, police picked up his driver Ramesh Yadav and allegedly recovered his ATM card and some money too. But is robbery theory put out by the police convinced journalists’ organisations? Apparently not, for they have filed a case in the Madhya Pradesh High Court seeking a CBI inquiry. The court issued notice to the concerned parties and the matter has remained there. (Information received from SantoshDwivedi, journalist, Bhopal).

Nayum, correspondent of a local journal, GanaChabuk, may have been a victim of the communal tension in the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Development Area of Assam, says the Indian Journalists Union (IJU). The Journalists” Association of Assam has documented a series of deaths of journalists in the area and said that 24 journalists have been killed in Assam over the last 25 years!

Unfortunately, freelancers who really lead the most precarious of existence among all journalists can fall by the wayside and no one blinks. Confusion confounds the deaths of freelance journalists like Bimala Prasad Talukdar, Ramesh Singhla or ChaitaliSantra who wrote on corruption, mining or marital disputes.  Why did Hem Pandey, killed in a police encounter when he had gone to interview Maoist leader Azad, die? Was he collateral damage in a set up? Or was he killed to silence the only witness to the gunning down of the Maoist leader?

Oh, Rajesh Mishra’s killers were caught red-handed, so that’s one case the police successfully investigated.

Incidence of attacks on the increase

Apart from these deaths, the 22 attacks and threats against journalists, writers, cartonists, filmmakers, theatre-persons and artists in 2012 alone are a huge wake up call.  Added to these are threats by vigilante groups and individuals who take offense at online content, physically attacking or lodging complaints against those who post messages on social networking sites.

Besides the deaths of these journalists, there have been grave attacks on other mediapersons and media houses all over the country. The grievous shooting ofThongamRina, associate editor of Arunachal Times, on July 15 this year, was followed by yet another attack on staffers of her newspaper – RanjitSarkar and Sunando Bora - on September 12 this year.

(Click here for the complete list of other instances recorded by the Free Speech Tracker, between January-November 2012).

 

Why impunity

India boasts that it is the world’s largest democracy, that its media is free and committed to self-regulation, that its print media is vibrant and has bucked the worldwide trend of newspapers closing down; that has around 300 news channels and internet usage and mobile media penetration is growing daily.

Political party involvement in the media has never been higher than it is today. The interest and investment of business houses in the media is immense. Yet, the freedom of those who work in the media is gravely threatened.

Yet, attacks on the media receive very little attention. When investigations into the deaths of journalists are sluggish, if they are conducted at all, there is little scrutiny and follow up. There is little or no discussion governing laws and legal policy that dangerously curb freedom of expression. There is no accountability for politicians, political activists, vigilante groups or even business-people that break the law. The coverage that such acts must receive should be relentless.

The responsibility for speaking up against impunity isn’t only confined to the observance of special days – symbolic as they undoubtedly are.

We need to know why media houses don’t seem to speak up enough at the increasing instances of threats and attacks against their ilk, their own staffers in some cases?

Undoubtedly, journalists are weakened and divided by poor working conditions, the incredible work pressures of churning out stories 24 x 7 and the contractual work that alienates them and discourages them from organizing together.

But journalists and their organisations must hold accountable everyone who threatens their freedom to work without fear or favour. Only then will we see a change in the impunity index. And real media freedom.