India

New York, December 18, 2008—For the sixth consecutive year, Iraq was the deadliest country in the world for the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists found in its end-of-year analysis. The 11 deaths recorded in Iraq in 2008, while a sharp drop from prior years, remained among the highest annual tolls in CPJ history.

New York, December 1, 2008--The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death of Hindu-language daily Hindustan correspondent Vikas Ranjan in the northern Indian state of Bihar on November 25. 

New York, November 24, 2008--The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the loss of journalist Jagjit Saikia, who was shot dead in northeastern Indian state of Assam on Saturday.

        

New York, August 29, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Indian authorities to protect journalists and lift restrictions on media workers in the curfew-bound northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, after a cameraman was reportedly killed and a near-total news blackout hit the main city of Srinagar.

Srinagar newspapers did not reach the stands today for the fifth consecutive day and cable operators shut down international news broadcasts on Thursday because of an almost uninterrupted government-imposed curfew, according to local news reports that are still being published sporadically online. Local television news broadcasts were ordered off the air on Sunday. Officials have been holding talks with cable operators and newspaper editors but no resolution has yet been reached.

New York, August 25, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns restrictions on the media by security forces trying to quell unrest in the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Central Reserve Police Forces beat at least 10 journalists for reporting on Sunday during a strict curfew imposed indefinitely on major towns in the Kashmir Valley to restrain anti-government protesters, according to international news reports. The journalists were carrying official passes issued by the local government to guarantee them free passage during the curfew, the reports said.

New York, May 12, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourned the killing of photojournalist Ashok Sodhi in crossfire Sunday in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Sodhi, a photographer for local English-language Daily Excelsior, was killed when suspected militants exchanged fire with security forces from a house where they held several hostages, in Samba district near the border with Pakistan, according to the BBC. Three militants, one soldier, and three other civilians were killed in the gun battle, which lasted several hours, the BBC reported.

New York, May 12, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourned the killing of photojournalist Ashok Sodhi in crossfire Sunday in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Sodhi, a photographer for local English-language Daily Excelsior, was killed when suspected militants exchanged fire with security forces from a house where they held several hostages, in Samba district near the border with Pakistan, according to the BBC. Three militants, one soldier, and three other civilians were killed in the gun battle, which lasted several hours, the BBC reported.

May 2008
News from the Committee to Protect Journalists

CPJ's Impunity Index ranks countries where killers of journalists go free

New York, April 30, 2008 -- Democracies from Colombia to India and Russia to the Philippines are among the worst countries in the world at prosecuting journalists' killers according to the Impunity Index, a list of countries compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists where governments have consistently failed to solve journalists' murders.

The famously freewheeling press in the world’s biggest democracy operated largely without interference from the central government but nevertheless faced significant challenges, from the threat of violent assault to legal harassment. The dangers confronting journalists varied tremendously across regions, with those working in conflict areas or outside the major urban centers at greatest risk. With no national organization systematically tracking press freedom violations, cases involving journalists working for small media outlets rarely drew wide attention.