The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) in Chhattisgarh strongly condemned an attack on senior journalist Kamal Shukla and other journalists in Kanker by politically backed local goons. It demanded strict action against the perpetrators.
Interestingly, Kamal Shukla had led a statewide campaign for a Journalist Protection Law that received tremendous support from media persons. The Congress Party had promised to pass this law.
Even after a year of assuming power in the state, the Congress Party has not moved to pass the law. Instead, its hoodlums are carrying out violent attacks against Kamal Shukla, a PUCL statement said.
Yesterday afternoon, journalist Satish Yadav was beaten and dragged from a riverside hotel in Kanker by state government supported assailants, who took him to the police station 200 meters away and continued to beat him inside the police station, the statement said.
Kamal Shukla and some 20-25 other journalists gathered at the Kanker Police Station to protest against this violence. At the same time, more than 300 anti-social elements gathered there and brutally assaulted Kamal Shukla and other journalists in front of the local police, within the premises of the police station.
The very fact that this happened in broad daylight in such a public place, under the benevolent gaze of the police, proved that the attackers had full protection from the administration and the police, the statement said.
Kamal Shukla had been continuously exposing corruption amongst government officials and also highlighting the illegal sand mining mafia through his writings. He had received death threats prior to this incident. This is not a simple, spontaneous attack on him by an angry crowd, but a carefully planned and premeditated assault, it said.
Kamal Shukla has received serious injuries on his head and neck due to this assault. According to him and other eye-witnesses, Gafoor Memon, the local representative of MLA, Jiten Thakur – the ex-president of the Municipality, Maqbool Khan – the current vice-president of the Municipality, and Ganesh Tiwari were among those who attacked the journalists.
PUCL has demanded the following:
- Full protection to be provided to Kamal Shukla, Satish Yadav and other journalists.
- An independent inquiry be conducted into this incident, and the attackers should be punished.
- An inquiry should be held into the inaction of the Kanker Police Station and its biased conduct.
- A substantive meaningful legislation regarding the Chhattisgarh Journalist Protection Act should be passed as soon as possible.
