GUWAHATI, June 15 � The Journalists� Forum Assam (JFA) has expressed shock over the killing of journalist Jagendra Singh in Uttar Pradesh and decried that the Akhilesh Yadav Government had done little to nab the perpetrators in Lucknow.
The scribes� body demanded stringent actions against the guilty individuals irrespective of their professional backgrounds and social standing.
Shahjahanpur-based freelance journalist Singh (42) died from severe burn injuries at the Lucknow Civil Hospital last Monday where he had been undergoing treatment for burn injuries since June 1. His family members lodged a complaint at the local police station alleging that four policemen along with a few associates of Ram Murti Verma, a minister in Akhilesh Yadav�s Cabinet, set the journalist on fire at his residence.
They alleged that Samajwadi Party leader Verma�s animosity towards Singh grew, as he started posting regular feeds exposing the minister�s corruption and land-grabbing issues on the Facebook with the help of RTI information. Before his death, Singh in his hospital bed, blamed Verma for everything and claimed that following the direction from the minister he was doused with inflammable items by the police personnel and set ablaze at his house in Sadar bazaar locality.
�We demand appropriate actions against the criminals, who eliminated Jagendra Singh to avoid embarrassment because of his regular postings on the Facebook. UP chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav, must take up the issue seriously and help punishing those accused personnel, if proven guilty by the court,� said a statement issued by JFA president Rupam Barua and secretary Nava Thakuria.
The North-east-based media forum also urged the Uttar Pradesh Government to adequately compensate the family of Singh, as he was the sole breadwinner of the family. It also extended moral support to the agitating mediapersons of the State and appealed to civil society groups to stand behind the journalist fraternity in its demand for justice to the victim journalist.
The burning alive of Singh and his subsequent demise has prompted massive protest and condemnations from different parts of the country and also from abroad. From UP journalist organisations to the Press Council of India, to the Committee to Protect Journalists to Amnesty International everyone has asked for actions against the culprits. But leaving aside registering a case in the respect and suspending five police personnel, the State Government has not taken any visible initiative to book the killers, it added.
