07 Mar 12 | Asia and Pacific, Index Index, minipost
Around 100 journalists were attacked by a large crowd in India yesterday, whilst covering local elections in northern state Uttar Pradesh. The journalists were forced to lock themselves in a school, which was being used as an election centre, after clashes broke out between supporters of the parties involved in the election. The crowd of approximately 4,000 turned on the journalists on the evening of the election, after the results had been announced. They were assaulted, and their equipment and vehicles were damaged by the crowd. The journalists were able to leave the school early on Wednesday morning.
06 Mar 12 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
An Indian newspaper reporter has been beaten to death, less than two weeks after another journalist was clubbed to death in the same area. Rajesh Mishra was attacked and beaten on 1 March in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. Mishra, from weekly newspaper Media Raj, received threats following his reports about alleged mismanagement of a number of regional schools owned by Rajneesh Banerjee, the publisher of another Rewa-based newspaper, Vindhya Bharat. The journalist was invited to meet the editor of Vindhya Bharat at a tea stand, where he was attacked. Fellow journalist Chandrika Rai was beaten to death in Madhya Pradesh, along with his wife and two children, last month.
05 Mar 12 | Asia and Pacific, Index Index, minipost
Ten Indian journalists were attacked by a group of lawyers outside a court in Bangalore last week. On 2 March, following the high-profile case of a former minister accused of illegal mining, the lawyers attacked journalists, most of whom were TV camera operators, with stones, iron chairs, and flowerpots. Police used tear gas to disperse the crowd. Some reports said the lawyers were angered by “one-sided” coverage of a protest in January, while other news reports said the dispute occurred after the lawyers were angered by television crews blocking the entrance to the courts.
23 Feb 12 | Asia and Pacific, Index Index, minipost
Indian journalist Chandrika Rai, his wife and two teenage children were found beaten to death in their home in Umaria, Madhya Pradesh state. Rai, 42, who worked for two Hindi-language dailies, Navbharat and Hitavada, had been investigating illegal mining in Umaria. Some local news reports have suggested that his murder could be linked to the kidnapping of a local official’s son or with a personal land dispute.
