India: Local reporters face risk of violence, murder

Freelance journalist Mukesh Chandrakar was killed on January 1, with his body discovered two days later at a road construction site in the state of Chhattisgarh in central India.

The journalist ran a popular YouTube channel named Bastar Junction, and was killed just days after reporting on corruption involving local contractors in the road-building business. The postmortem report showed severe injuries to his head, chest, back and stomach.

Police suspect that the murder was motivated by Chandrakar's journalistic work. At least four people have been arrested, and some local officials have been suspended following the crime. But the death of the young reporter also inflamed the nationwide debate on press freedom and the safety of local journalists in India.

'Without any sense of security'

Bastar is a region struggling with a Maoist insurgency, and journalists face threats from multiple sides: India's security forces, insurgent groups, and corrupt individuals or powerful figures who profit from the ongoing conflict.

Raunak Shivhare, an independent journalist and a close friend of Chandrakar's, told DW that the journalist's death only drew nationwide attention because of its brutal nature.

"Journalists in Bastar have been facing these issues continuously," he said. "We have been operating here without any sense of security."

India sliding on press freedom

In the past 15 years, India has seen a massive drop in its ranking in the global Press Freedom Index maintained by the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), from 105 in 2009 to 159 in 2024.

India is currently ranked below its neighbor and rival Pakistan.

"We are witnessing an authoritarian drift, with a clear intention to muzzle independent media and silence critical voices," said Celia Mercier, the head of RSF's South Asia Desk, describing the scale of repression as "chilling."

This was vividly illustrated by journalists who lost their lives, including Chandrakar in January 2025, but also Gauri Lankesh in 2017 and Shashikant Warishe in 2023.

Lankesh was a prominent local journalist in India's IP hub, Bangalore, who ran a publication that often criticized right-wing extremism. She was shot in front of her house in 2017. Warishe was mowed down on a highway in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra state in 2023 by an SUV driven by a land broker he had written about.

In  both of those cases, the killers have not been punished.

Modi's government rejects criticism

In the past, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi government had dismissed the methodology to evaluate press freedom.

Last year, India's information and broadcasting minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said attempts to appraise press freedom were "using very low sample size and with little or no understanding of our country and its vibrant democracy."

Addressing lawmakers in July, he said the government was committed to ensuring the freedom of speech, and praised India's press as "robust and flourishing."

Meanwhile, journalists working outside large cities complain of being unprotected when covering topics that local strongmen would prefer to keep away from scrutiny.

RSF's Mercier said journalists face reprisals in the "form of direct attacks, tax investigations, legal proceedings or the threat of detention under anti-terrorist legislation."

"Anti-terrorism laws are abused to imprison journalists, such as the UAPA [Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act] law, especially in Kashmir," she said.

She also highlighted the prevalence of cyberharassment campaigns targeting journalists on social media, aimed at discrediting them as "traitors" or "anti-nationals" to delegitimize their work.

"When Gauri Lankesh was shot dead in broad daylight a few years ago, there were celebrations on twitter by handles that were being followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi," she said. "This just shows how vulnerable journalists are in this country."

Laws in limbo

Ruben Banerjee, the general secretary of the Editors Guild of India, said the increasing intolerance in the country directly correlates with its deteriorating press freedom.

"Laws have been weaponized and deployed to silence and punish anyone who differs with the official line," says the veteran editor.

Chhattisgarh, the state where Chandrakar was murdered, tried to introduce a law protecting journalists, but the move has stalled due to the lack of political will. On the national level, the Indian government's implementation of its Whistleblower Protection Act has been plagued by significant delays.

Additionally, in India's overburdened court system, it takes years for a verdict, with the accused often securing bail in light of prolonged legal delays. Even eight years after the widely publicized murder of Gauri Lankesh, 17 of the 18 accused are out on bail and one remains  at large.

'Ultimate form of censorship'

"Mukesh's death is the penultimate step before the last nail in the coffin. We are now terrified. We live with our families in Bastar. We don't have any protection," says his friend and fellow journalist Shivhare. "Under such circumstances, it is immensely difficult to continue the reporting of sensitive issues."

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says the majority of 60 Indian reporters who lost their lives since 1992 were local reporters in small towns.

"Without swift prosecution, these attacks send a message that such killings are being tolerated," said CPJ's head of Asia, Beh Lih Yi.

"Killing a journalist is the ultimate form of censorship," she said.

Edited by: Darko Janjevic