In another case of violence against journalists in India, on 20 May, reporter Subhash Kumar Mahto was shot dead in front of his home in the state of Bihar. He is the second media professional killed in the country in three months.

Crime repeats an increasingly common pattern in many countries. Brazil included: Journalists from regional vehicles are brutally murdered for stories involving corruption, crime and drug trafficking gangs.

People close to Mahto believe the murder was motivated by his investigation of a story about the illegal alcohol mafia in the area. A colleague told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that he was arrested in 2018 over a similar report involving police officers, but police did not confirm the suspicion.

Journalist killed in India became active on social media

According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), India is one of the most violent countries for press work. In the latest RSF World Press Freedom Rankings, country ranked 150th Evaluation of 180 countries.

Many of these crimes are committed against independent professionals or local vehicles. Such was the case with Subhash Kumar Mahto, who works for the local cable network City News.

Mahto had a habit of posting his stories on Public App, an Instagram-like video sharing app that is very popular in India.

According to CPJ, the journalist had more than 1,300 followers on the social network, and his last post was viewed more than 29,000 times.

Saurabh Kumar, general secretary of the Begusarai District Journalists Association, told CPJ that Mahto’s death may be linked to a recent report about a criminal group selling alcoholic beverages in the area. It is illegal to make and consume alcohol in Bihar, which is a crime under state law.

According to Kumar, the journalist was arrested four years ago on charges of publishing “fake news” while covering an incident involving illegal brewing.

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Four journalists died on the job or because of it in four days

Mahto was killed on his way home from a wedding dinner with family members. He was shot in the head by four people who fled the scene, the Indian newspaper reported. Phone.

Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator in Washington, has called for a thorough investigation of the case by Indian authorities to determine whether he was killed in the line of duty and to ensure that those responsible for the crime are arrested.

“The government of Bihar must take steps to protect all journalists working in the province and to seek justice for those attacked or killed,” he said.

According to The Indian Express, police are also investigating the possibility that the crime is related to political disputes over an electoral candidate he supports.

India is one of the deadliest countries for journalists

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) rates India as one of the deadliest countries for the work of journalists and media professionals, especially those who oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) acknowledged by the organization. “The personification of the Hindu nationalist right”:

“Violence against journalists, political partisan media and concentration of media ownership shows that press freedom is in crisis in the ‘world’s largest democracy’.”

RSF says the Indian press was seen as quite progressive until Modi came to power in 2014.

Since then, persecution of vehicles and media professionals has been frequent. The most notable case is journalist Rana Ayyub. A critic of the government, the woman faced massive judicial harassment, constant death threats and rape, and was even chased by a car in Mumbai.

The death of Subhash Kumar Mahto was the second recorded death in India this year. In February, Reporter Rohit Biswal died when a makeshift device exploded. Who was behind a poster hung by Maoist rebels in the Kalandhi district of Odisha.

The country records an average of three to four journalists killed for their jobs each year, according to the RSF.

In a crime similar to the one that killed Mahto last year, Reporter Budhinath Jha, 22, was found dead. In Madhubani district of Bihar after researching illegal medical clinics in the area for a story.

“Journalists face all forms of physical violence, including police brutality, ambush by political activists, and deadly reprisals by criminal groups or corrupt local authorities,” the international NGO says.

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Latin America leads violence against local journalists

Deadly crimes, such as that of Indian journalist Subhash Kumar Mahto, who came from a small, regional vehicle, occurred especially frequently in Latin America and worries international organizations.

The region has seen increasing violence against media professionals and is the deadliest region for journalists this year, a position long held by Asia and Africa.

With journalists killed in Mexico (11), Brazil (1), Haiti (3), Honduras (1) and Guatemala (1), Latin America spearheaded deadly attacks on media professionals in 2022adding at least 17 victims – more than half of the total recorded in the world in the first quarter.

Some of the Latin American victims were investigating gang-related crimes or corruption cases involving public officials.

The most recent crime of this type was recorded in Mexico on May 9. News site director and reporter Yessenia Mollinedo Falconi and Sheila Johana García Olivera El Veraz in Cosoleacaque, He was shot dead in front of a grocery store.

Mexican journalists broke the news as they were preparing for a demonstration in the country’s capital against the murder of his colleague, Luis Enrique Ramírez Ramos, who was killed four days ago.

According to information from the Associated Press (AP), the town of Cosoleacaque is close to a major migrant route operated by organized crime groups in southeast Veracruz.

Despite the suspicion that drug trafficking gangs were involved in the journalists’ deaths, there was no immediate indication of who might be responsible for the crimes.

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