Journalists - Role, Rights, Arrests

The video of the chilling attack began with Barve, founder-editor of Samarth Bharat newspaper and SBP YouTube channel, speaking on video about illegal construction activity on a riverbed in Nigothwadi village near Manchar town in Pune district of Maharashtra. Suddenly, Morde swiftly raised a wooden rod and hit her repeatedly even as she screamed for help. https://thewire.in/media/pune-journalist-sneha-barve-brutally-attacked-while-reporting-heres-what-happened 

Barve was literally pounded with the huge rod till she became unconscious. The cameraperson, Ajaz Sheikh, who continued to record the attack, was also beaten when Morde’s aides realised the attack was being videographed. Bystanders who came to her rescue, were also severely beaten and one’s hand was fractured while another got his nose broken.

free Speech Colective

15/07/2026

Protection for Journalists Under Threat Under New Labour Code  2020 https://www.newsclick.in/protection-journalists-under-threat-new-labour-codel  The attack on journalists’ rights is set to face another major blow, as the Centre proposes to do away with the constitution of a wage board – tasked with devising a permanent wage fixation machinery – along with axing the protections that were designed to protect the media. A large number of vernacular media houses are still covered by the wage board, though these too are fast moving to contractual employment..

The abolishing of the wage board will be achieved through the passage of one of the three labour code Bills, tabled in Parliament last week

https://www.newsclick.in/Labour-Code-Bills-Take-Back-19th-Century The three bills – The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH&WC) Code, 2020, The Industrial Relations (IR) Code, 2020, and The Code on Social Security, 2020 – were tabled in Parliament on Saturday. Last year, The Code on Wages, 2019, which sought to regulate wage and bonus payments in all matters employment, was passed by both houses of Parliament.

https://www.reporters-collective.in/special/what-killed-mukesh-chandrakar

Mukesh Chandrakar was a journalist from Bastar, Chhattisgarh.  Mukesh was killed for reporting on a substandard road.

Starting 2021, the Union government amended the laws to permit private miners to get into iron ore mining. Private miners were brimming with hope for iron, from the Bailadila hill range. Till date, only government-owned companies had controlled the mining in the region. Now an aggressive push for openin  new mines to private players would run in parallel with the push for developing the roads to take the ore out of the potential new mines. While several villages protested about the mines being opened up without consent on their traditional lands...

Many villagers said the lack of formal documentation of their land rights comes in the way of them seeking
a fair deal. .. On paper and in government records, the roads and the camps continue to be constructed and operated for the benefit of villagers such as Kadti.

In Bastar’s reality, it is the contractors  who make a killing from constructing the roads, the miners who need them most to truck out the mineral wealth and journalists such as Mukesh who pay the price with their lives and livelihoods for telling us the stories of these roads of development.

Shillong Press Club Condemns Arrest of Journalist Dilawar   https://assamtimes.org/node/23377 Mazumdar, the chief reporter of Crosscurrent Digital Media, was first arrested on the night of March 25. Although he was granted bail on March 26, he was rearrested on March 27 based on a complaint filed by the managing director of the Assam Cooperative Apex Bank. . SPC President D L Syiemlieh stated that the rearrest of Mazumdar shortly after being granted bail is deeply concerning and represents a shocking misuse of legal processes. He emphasized that this action constitutes a direct assault on the freedom of the press and the fundamental right to free expression

PCI Slams Assam CM for Questioning Journalist Authenticity in Re-Arrest Case https://assamtimes.org/node/23378 By AT News | Friday, Mar 28, 2025 

पत्रकार जेल में है, कॉमेडियन बेल पर है, ये कैसा भारत है, प्रधानमंत्री मोदी कहाँ हैं?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Blv9jiS3OE असम के पत्रकार सड़क पर उतर गए हैं। साथी पत्रकार की गिरफ्तारी के विरोध में। मुख्यमंत्री कहते हैं कि दिलवर हुसैन मज़ूमदार पत्रकार नहीं है। लेकिन कोर्ट के एक मामले में ज़मानत देते हुए कहा कि गिरफ्तारी के लिए कानून का दुरुपयोग हुआ है। सरकार को कहां पीछे हटना चाहिए था तो चोरी डकैती के आरोप में जेल में डाल दिया। आप ही बताइये। एक बैंक के बाहर प्रदर्शन हो रहा है। उसे कवर करने पत्रकार गया है। पुलिस केस करती है कि किसी का  जातिगत अपमान किया है। इस केस में बेल मिलती है तो चोरी के आरोप में जेल में डाल जाता है।  पहले चोरी का केस दर्ज होगा या अपमान का? क्या ये पुलिस की दादागीरी नहीं है?