NEW DELHI, Apr 2: India is a dangerous place to be a journalist, veteran BJP leader L K Advani blogged today. In the first six months of 2013, India was the second most dangerous place in the world for those working in the business of news, he asserted.
Mr Advani said in his blog the first was Syria, which is in the midst of a massive civil war, between Government forces of Bashar al-Assad and rebels.
The London-based International News Safety Institute counted eight journalists dead in Syria during this period, while six were killed in India.
He mentioned details of journalists who were allegedly murdered in India.
‘Let us look at how and why they were killed, ‘Nemi Chand Jain, journalist from Chhattisgarh, had his throat slit and a note left on him, which accused him of being a police informer.
‘Three employees of a Bengali newspaper — a proof reader, the manager of the newspaper and a driver — were murdered. ‘Later the editor of the newspaper said that he was the target and instead these people were killed. ‘Two other journalists were killed in accidents.’ ‘Even if we discount the last two, in four cases people working in news were directly targeted and murdered. That would put India at the same level as Somalia — at number four — where four journalists were killed during the same time, and just below Pakistan where five died,’ Mr Advani said.
‘This is not the first time India has been one of the worst places in the world to be a journalist. ‘We were among the top five even in 2010,’ Mr Advani said. (UNI)
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