Follow-up

The Delhi High Court on Monday stayed operation of an order passed by the trial court directing the prosecution to furnish to prime accused and suspended IPS officer R. K. Sharma copies of certain observations by Rakesh Bhatnagar recorded by the investigating officer in the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case, says a United News of India (UNI) report in the Hindu. Details: While staying the trial courtâ...

China has agreed to drop charges against a Chinese journalist who worked as a researcher for the New York Times. Zhao Yan, jailed since October 2004 after his arrest on charges of fraud and illegally releasing state secrets, is likely to be released soon. Zhao’s case was threatening to overshadow Chinese President Hu Jintao’s forthcoming visit to the United States. Hu is expected to make his first...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has said that the failure of the United States to respond to calls for independent investigation of cases where journalists and media staff have been killed by US soldiers is encouraging a culture of impunity in the killing of media staff. CRUEL JUSTICE: José Couso's funeral procession. José Couso, who worked for the Spanish television network...

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has said Mumbai journalist Violet Godwin “might have been killed” due to negligent investigation on the part of the Mumbai police. In a letter to the Centre, which in turn has forwarded to the state government, the international body came down heavily on the Mumbai police. Now the victim’s brother, dissatisfied with the nature of investigation by the...

The trial in the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case, involving suspended Haryana IG R K Sharma and five other accused, inched towards conclusion after a city court today recorded the deposition of the 193rd witness out of the 200, says a Press Trust of India report in outlookindia.com. With the matter being transferred to Fast Track Court on the direction of the Delhi High Court and only a few more...

The assault of a journalist by the police in Assam last week has been condemned by journalists both in the state as well as abroad. HOPING FOR A WAVE: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a function in Guwahati in November 2004. The attack on a journalist and the subsequent boycott of government functions by journalist comes as more bad news for Gogoi who has been...

Pressure is mounting on the outlawed Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) to substantiate its charges after the insurgent outfit claimed to have attacked a senior journalist in Manipur for having part of an extortionist gang. QUICK DENIAL: Militant organisations like the Revolutionary People's Front (RPF), United National Liberation Front (UNLF), Peoples Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK)...

Last Thursday, two men shot three bullets into Ratan Luwangcha, the General Secretary of the Manipur journalists’ union and bureau chief of a popular local newspaper, the Poknapham. He is in a critical condition, but at least he is still alive – unlike the three editors of Manipuri dailies who have been shot dead in the past few years. Killing journalists seems to be becoming a bit of a fad...

In the days ahead, in the wake of the despicable life attempt on a well known journalist and the secretary of the All Manipur Working Journalists Union, there is bound to be plenty of dirty linen washing. Sadly for the journalistic profession, some of the mud thrown around is bound to stick and tarnish its image. After all, in today’s Manipur, the conditioning of public sensibility has been such...

The outlawed Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) has claimed responsibility for the attack on a senior journalist in Manipur's capital Imphal on January 9. The claim came Sunday evening within the 48-hour deadline set by journalists failing which they said any militant group failing to clarify its role in the attack would be summarily blacked out of the press. UNDER FIRE: Members of All-Manipur...