In the backdrop of the spate of attacks on scribes in recent years, MiD DAY Investigations Editor J Dey's high-profile murder, and the state government's assurance of reviving the bill according journalists protection, one would think the home department must have taken care to compile some data on the assaults
In the backdrop of the spate of attacks on scribes in recent years, MiD DAY Investigations Editor J Dey's high-profile murder, and the state government's assurance of reviving the bill according journalists protection, one would think the home department must have taken care to compile some data on the assaults.
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But an RTI activist was stunned to discover that it had no pertinent data.
Two days after Dey was gunned down in broad daylight by underworld henchmen, on June 13, Anil Galgali, an RTI activist and a journalist by profession, had posted his query to the home department.
He had sought information on the number of journalists who were killed or attacked in Maharashtra in the last 10 years. Last week, the home department reverted to Galgali.
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The RTI reply (copy with MiD DAY) cited lack of data, stating simply that the department had no credible information on the number of journalists slain or ambushed over the last decade.
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According to the response, the office of the Director General of Police had no information either.
Instead, the home department suggested, the applicant should approach police stations across the state to acquire the information. "I was shocked to read the reply from the home department. The government is going to make a law to protect journalists but says it has no specific data," said Galgali.
The Maharashtra government has declared that it would revive a long pending draft bill called the Maharashtra Journalists (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Ordinance, 2010.
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The law is supposed to protect journalists from attacks by laying down tough provisions for punishing the offenders.
According to SM Deshmukh, conveyer of Patrakar Halla Virodhi Samiti (Committee Against Attacks on Journalists) in Maharashtra, "We submitted the full data to the home department last week.
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It is shameful that the government has made a mockery of the security of journalists."
As per the data, 60 journalists have been assaulted in the last two years, 28 media houses have been ambushed by political parties in the last 10 years, and 10 journalists have been killed in the last 25 years, across the state.
Attacked
AV Narayan, journalist at Blitz, was killed in Ulhasnagar in 1982u00a0 by goons of Gopal Rajwani's gang
Baljeet Parmar was shot at by the Chhota Rajan gang in Antop Hill in 1997
Ketan Tirodkar was shot at by the Arun Gawli gang in Matungau00a0
Dinanath Tiwari was attacked by MNS workers in Malad in 2008u00a0
Urdu scribe Sajid Rashid was attacked two years backu00a0
Shiv Sena workers attacked the office of IBN Lokmat in November 2009
Sahkar Abidi was threatened by Ravi Pujari last yearu00a0
Zee News journalist Amit Joshi was attacked in Matunga in August 2010 by a mob
The offices of Zee News, Star News and TV9 media houses were attacked in recent years
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