In Chhattisgarh, journalists live in constant fear of being jailed, killed as only a few get govt recognition

Raipur: Journalism or press is the fourth pillar of democracy, but in Chhattisgarh, this pillar or those holding it up straight have little to no existence. In the state, journalists are undergoing identity crises as they are “not recognised” till they receive accreditation. Also, not everyone can be registered since the state only grants that privilege to one journalist per district from a media house or publication. Those who the state refuses to recognise as journalists live in constant fear of being put in jail, killed and exploited. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said that in the past 10 years, four journalists have been killed in the state, of those two were from Bastar, the epicentre of conflicts between Maoists and security forces. In its defence, the Ministry of Home Affairs says that out of 27 districts in the state, 16 are Naxal-affected and since Naxals hide between the common masses, identification requires a lot of ground-level surveillance, data gathering, and filtration making accreditation a cumbersome task. Bastar’s former IG and controversial top cop Shiv Ram Prasad Kalluri, who had allegedly sent abusive and threatening messages to activists and lawyers, reportedly opted for a policy to shoot the messenger. To achieve the target he had set, the police went for a narrow definition of a journalist. They recognise only those journalists whose names are either registered in the Detailed Project Report (DPR) or have been provided accreditation by the DPR. But in Bastar, just 21 journalists are recognised and 27 applications are pending. [caption id=“attachment_4195241” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Journalists Santosh Yadav and Somaru Nag, who were arrested on sedition charges. Image courtesy Avdhesh Mallick[/caption] Journalists under attack When journalists Somaru Nag, Santosh Yadav, Prabhat Singh and Dipak Jaiswal were arrested, Kalluri and SP Rajendra Dash had said that they were not listed in the DPR list or accredited. Nag and Yadav were booked for sedition as the police doubted that they worked as couriers for Maoists and used to publish stories in their favour. Yadav had to spend 18 months in jail before he was let go. Malini Subramaniam, a contributor to the news website Scroll.in, was intimidated and compelled to leave Bastar as she used to report about human rights violations by the security forces. When the police refused to identify her as a journalist, she didn’t receive any police protection either. She said when the fact-finding team of Editors Guild of India visited Sukma, the area’s SP D Shravan refused to identify Malini as a journalist even after being quoted by her in many of her news reports. More than seven months have passed since Kalluri was transferred from Bastar, but the police’s approach has still not changed. DIG Bastar Sundarraj said, “Police do not have many resources to identify who is a journalist. So, we are dependent on the DPR for this and recognise only those as journalists whose names were listed in the DPR or have accreditation.” DPR director Rajesh Sukumar Toppo said, “I am aware of that crisis in Bastar but it is more important that we know who is a journalist and who is not.” [caption id=“attachment_4195277” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Pamphlet issued by the Chhattisgarh Police showing journalists and activists as Naxal supporters. Image courtesy Avdhesh Mallick[/caption] DPR no cakewalk Getting enlisted in the DPR is quite tough for journalists living in remote and insurgency-hit areas. Especially Bastar, because a majority of grass root journalists are not salaried employees of the publication they write for. “Many don’t even get an authority letter or ID card from the media house they work for,” said Kamal Shukla, a senior Journalist. Fact-finding committee’s report  says that in Bastar there are three types of journalists: First, who are salaried employees whose primary profession is journalism and they visit the area for reporting, second are part-time journalists who are contractors, builders, hoteliers etc for their livelihood but also file reports and third are “the backbone of journalism in Bastar”; they are stringers, news-agents or hawkers who send stories from remote areas of conflict zones. Those in the third category are the most vulnerable, said the Editors Guild in the report as they don’t have any formal appointment with any newspaper. This makes getting on the DPR list close to impossible for them. The managing editor of Pioneer Hindi Sanjay Shekhar said, “Anybody who is engaged in news work such as gathering, collecting or editing of news and is registered with any constitutional organisation, should be considered a journalist and should be allowed to access every facility essential to accomplish his or her work.” [caption id=“attachment_4195245” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Lingaram Kodapi and Prabhat Singh, who were allegedly jailed under false charges after not being recognised as journalists by the police. Image courtesy Avdhesh Mallick[/caption] Even for others, receiving accreditation from DPR is quite a tough and challenging task. Some journalists allege that the process of awarding accreditation is not fair and many times favouritism plays a big role as those who write in favour of the government are provided accreditation. Subba Rao, a journalist who was on the list, said, “I feel proud if someone identifies me as one who worked closely with Kallur Sir. He is honestly fighting the Naxals and those journalists who portray the police in a bad light. There are journalists in Bastar who support the Naxals through their news reports.” The ongoing fight If the police are to be believed, more than 90 percent of journalists in Chhattisgarh are not in its ambit since the accreditation rules say only one journalist on district level from each publication or news channel can be accredited or put on the list. Several reporters from media organisations like the BBC, The Hindu, The Indian Express etc do not possess any accreditation. Even those who work for the Editors Guild of India, are members of State Level Accreditation Committee for Journalists or are Press Information Bureau (PIB) card holders are not recognised in Chhattisgarh. [caption id=“attachment_4195237” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Veteran journalist Ramesh Nayyar addresses a gathering and talks about the increasing attacks on journalists in Chhattisgarh. Image courtesy Avdhesh Mallick[/caption] Veteran journalist Ramesh Nayyar, who is a PIB card holder and was a member of several accreditation committees, has not received any accreditation from the Chhattisgarh government. “To get an accreditation card, I will have to apply for it and I wouldn’t like to do that,” said Nayyar. “It is the duty of the government to define who is a journalist and who isn’t. They should put out a list of criterions for one to be a journalist in the state.” Manoj Singh Baghel, state head of Swaraj Express, also echoed Nayyar’s view and said, “They can classify journalists as full-timers, part-timers or else, but the government must publish a list so all the doubts related to the definition of journalists are cleared.” The author is a Raipur-based freelance writer and a member of  101Reporters.com , a pan-India network of grassroots reporters. Read part 1 of the series here