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Geneva/Guwahati: Expressing shock at the mysterious death of a
television scribe in Bihar, the Switzerland based media rights body
Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) demands an authentic probe into the
incidents that led to Manish Kumar Singh’s untimely demise so that
the probable culprits can be punished under the law.
It may be mentioned that Manish (30), who worked for Sudarshan news
channel, was missing for some days and his semi-decomposed body was
found in Champaran locality on 10 August 2021. Both of his eyes were
reportedly removed. Hailed from Paharpur village, the victim’s father
(Sanjay Kumar Singh) is also a journalist engaged with a Hindi
newspaper.
Sudarshan channel editor Suresh Chavhanke claimed that Manish was
kidnapped and murdered. He also added that two individuals namely
Mohammad Arsad Alam and Amarendra Singh were arrested by the police in
connection with the crime. The outspoken editor alleged that Bihar
police was informed about his missing but did nothing as if they
‘waited passively for the murder’.
“After Andhra Pradesh scribe Chenna Keshav’s murder recently, it is
the fourth incident of journo-deaths to assailants during 2021 in the
populous country. Bihar government, led by Nitish Kumar, should do the
needful to punish the culprits under relevant laws as there should be
no impunity,” said Blaise Lempen, general secretary of PEC
(www.pressemblem.ch/pec-news.shtml).
Last year, India recorded the highest number of journalists killed
worldwide with 15 fatalities among 92 media persons killed in
different countries. PEC documents 48 journalists who lost their lives
across the globe since 1st January this year, where Afghanistan tops
the list with 6 journo-victims (including Indian photojournalist
Danish Siddiqui, who was killed there by the Taliban) followed by
Mexico & Pakistan (4 each), etc.
“Two journalists (Ashu Yadav and Sulabh Srivastava) lost their lives
in the country to perpetrators during the first half of 2021. However,
it witnessed more than 270 journalists who fall victims of the
Covid-19 pandemic since March 2020,” said Nava Thakuria, PEC’s India
representative, adding that the government should consider formulating
special protection laws for media persons at the earliest.
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