Committee Against Assault on Journalists

Khushboo Akhtar, Palpal News   My brother Nadeem was woken up with incessant rings on his mobile at 6 am on Wednesday, 30 August, by a neighbour from my home in Sultanpuri in northwest Delhi. It was an unusual alarm to ring on a working day. The voice on the other side said that smoke was coming out of the top floor of our three-storey home located on a wide road. I have been living with my brother and father in a Delhi satellite town for the last two years or so, but have not lost touch with the house and neighbourhood that shaped my childhood and university years.   By the time my brother and I reached our Sultanpuri house, a huge fire had engulfed and destroyed the entire second floor of my house, neighbours had called the fire brigade office, which doused the fire and left, and the local police had been informed about the incident.  What I saw when I entered the floor broke me. The tiny floor was full of ash and half-burnt things. The ash from the wood of the two beds...

Raipur:   A female journalist was threatened on Sunday evening by eight people claiming to be from Bajrang Dal, a right-wing organisation.  Talking to CAAJ, electronic media journalist Mamta Lanjewar told that some people rang her doorbell at 5.00 pm and started threatening her of dire consequences for opposing the construction of a temple on the housing board land in Himalayan Hights Society, where she lives. These men claimed that they belonged to Bajrang Dal and were sent by a resident named Satyabhama Chauhan and an ex-serviceman Sahu to convince her about the temple. After heated arguments, the journalist called up a few other journalist friends and later submitted a police complaint with nine other signatories who are residents of the same society.  Talking to CAAJ over phone the journalist explained the whole incident and has shared her complaint copy as well as some images. She said that she was being continously trolled in Whatsapp groups for a few days.  Th...

  उत्‍तर प्रदेश में पांच साल में मारे गए 12 पत्रकार , कानूनी नोटिसों और मुकदमों की भरमार पत्रकारों पर हमले के विरुद्ध समिति (CAAJ) ने उत्‍तर प्रदेश विधानसभा चुनाव के लिए पहले मतदान की पूर्व संध्‍या पर ‍बुधवार को चौंकाने वाले आंकड़े जारी किये हैं। अपनी रिपोर्ट '' मीडिया की घेराबंदी '' में समिति ने उद्घाटन किया है कि प्रदेश में पिछले पांच साल में पत्रकारों पर हमले के कुल 138 मामले दर्ज किये गये जिनमें पचहत्‍तर फीसद से ज्‍यादा मामले 2020 और 2021 के दौरान कोरोनाकाल में हुए। समिति के मुताबिक 2017 से लेकर जनवरी 2022 के बीच उत्‍तर प्रदेश में कुल 12 पत्रकारों की हत्‍या हुई है। ये मामले वास्‍तविक संख्‍या से काफी कम हो सकते हैं। इनमें भी जो मामले ज़मीनी स्‍तर पर जांच जा सके हैं उन्‍हीं का विवरण रिपोर्ट में दर्ज है। जिनके विवरण दर्ज नहीं हैं उनको रिपोर्ट में जोड़े जाने का आधार मीडिया और सोशल मीडिया में आयी सूचनाएं हैं।   हमले की प्रकृति हत्‍या शारीरिक हमला मुकदमा/गिरफ्तारी धमकी/हिरासत/जासूसी कुल वर्ष ...

The Committee Against Assault on Journalists (CAAJ) releases a report titled "Republic In Peril" on recent cases of Assaults on Journalists in Delhi covering three months from December 2019 to February 2020. This report documents a total of 32 cases of various types of Assaults on Journalists covering socio-political developments in the capital city of India after the eruption of anti-CAA protests. The report outlines three phases of assault in Delhi. First in December, 2019 that started after anti-CAA protests erupted with centrestage being Jamia Millia Islamia University. A total of seven cases have been documented where Journalists who went to cover Jamia were assaulted physically. These assaulted journalists included mainstream news channels, agency, international media BBC and digital platforms. The assaulters included mob and police. This first phase lasted for five days from December 15 to December 20, 2019 although assaults continued nationwide for ...

28 दिसंबर, 2019 नयी दिल्ली देश भर में जब छात्र और युवा नागरिकता कानून में हुए संशोधन (सीएए) का विरोध करने के लिए सड़कों पर शांतिपूर्ण तरीके से उतरे हुए हैं और जिस तरीके से नरेंद्र मोदी की सरकार राष्ट्रीय नागरिक रजिस्टर (एनआरसी) और राष्ट्रीय जनसंख्या रजिस्टर (एनपीआर) को साथ में लागू करने की मंशा रखती है, इस बीच पुलिस ने उन मीडियाकर्मियों के खिलाफ हिंसक प्रतिक्रिया दी है जो देश भर में युवाओं के इस आंदोलन को रिपोर्ट कर रहे थे। पुलिस की   यह अराजक कारर्वाई और बरताव निंदनीय है जो दिखाता है कि यह स्पष्ट रूप से स्वतंत्र रिपोर्टिंग को रोकने और दबाने का एक प्रयास है। जिनके हाथ में कानून व्यवस्था को लागू करने की जिम्मेदारी थी उन्होंने कुछ खास राज्यों की सरकारों के साथ मिलकर जैसा व्यवहार किया है, वह दिखाता है कि वे संदेशवाहक को ही निशाना बनाने पर आमादा हैं। ध्यान देने वाली बात है कि प्रदर्शनकारियों और मीडियाकर्मियों दोनों के खिलाफ ही सबसे बुरे हमले उन राज्यों में हुए हैं जहां भारतीय जनता पार्टी का शासन है, विशेष रूप से उत्तर प्रदेश में, जहां सबसे ज्यादा मौतें हुई हैं। शांतिपू...

CAAJ Statement condemning attacks on media-persons during anti CAA-NRC protests in India 28 December 2019 New Delhi As students and young people across India have taken to the streets to peacefully protest the amendment to the Citizenship Act (CAA) and the manner in which the Narendra Modi government intends putting together the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR), police personnel have responded violently against media-persons who have been reporting and recording audio-visual evidence of the agitations by the youth across the country. The condemnable high-handed behaviour by the police is a clear attempt at suppressing and censoring independent reportage. The actions of those responsible for upholding law and order – but who have been complicit with particular state governments – represent a clear instance of “shooting the messenger.” It is noteworthy that the worst attacks against both the protesters as well as media-...

Amidst the on-going nationwide protest against CAA-NRC several journalist were attacked, intimidated and harassed by the police when they were doing the ground reporting. Ironically most of them come from the minority Muslim community. It shows the bias against the certain community from the state machinery. Several other photo and video journalists were also harassed in these protests by the mobs and protesters.  Here is the current list of the attacked journalists (11/12/19 - 21/12/19):

Magsaysay Awardee Journalist P. Sainath addresses Journalists of Eastern UP Venue: Paradkar Smriti Sabhagar, Varanasi Date: Friday, November 29, 2019 The holy city of Varanasi and Lok Sabha constituency of PM Narendra Modi witnessed a historic event last Friday when celebrated Journalist and Ex-Editor (Rural Affairs) of The Hindu, P. Sainath delivered a scintillating and insightful lecture on the the Freedom of Rural Journalists in Paradkar Smriti Bhawan at Kashi Patrakar Sangh. The event was organised by the Committee Against Assault on Journalists (CAAJ), an umbrella organisation of independent media and civil society groups working for the cause of Right to Freedom of Expression and Speech. The UP unit of CAAJ with around half a dozen Journalist bodies, Human Rights body like PVCHR and Civil Society group like Saajha Sanskriti Manch were instrumental in mobilising rural Journalists and individuals from 9 districts of Eastern UP. The three hour event saw full ...