Indian authorities arrest journalist Nilesh Sharma, re-arrest Fahad Shah
New Delhi, March 9, 2022 – Authorities in Chhattisgarh state and the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir region must immediately release journalists Nilesh Sharma and Fahad Shah and drop all investigations launched based on their journalistic work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On March 2, police in Chhattisgarh’s capital Raipur arrested Sharma, editor of…
Authorities in India continue to investigate, detain journalists amid COVID-19 pandemic
Local authorities across India filed legal notices against, questioned, or detained at least eight journalists between March 29, 2020, and May 17, 2020, amid the country’s lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus, according to CPJ interviews with the journalists and media reports. According to Om Sharma, a journalist with Hindi daily Divya Himachal in…
‘I feel like a weight has been lifted’ freelance journalist Santosh Yadav says as Chhattisgarh court ends four-year legal nightmare
On January 2, freelance journalist Santosh Yadav got his life back when the National Investigation Agency court in Jagdalpur acquitted him of charges of helping Maoists militants. The ruling marked the end of a legal nightmare that lasted over four years for Yadav, who says that he was threatened and beaten in custody, before being…
Chhattisgarh’s plan for journalist safety law could be template for all India
Every day for two years, freelance journalist Santosh Yadav must walk the 50 or so yards from his home to the Darbha village police station in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, to sign a register. Just one missed day could immediately land him back in prison as he awaits trial on anti-terror charges. A police commander said that…
Video journalist killed in Maoist rebel attack in Chhattisgarh
New Delhi, October 30, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists called on authorities in Chhattisgarh to ensure the safety of media covering elections after a journalist embedded with police was killed in an ambush. Video journalist Achyutananda Sahu, who worked for the government-run broadcaster Doordarshan, was killed in Chhattisgarh today during a firefight between police and…
Indian police arrest journalist on charges of alleged extortion and blackmail
Indian regional police arrested freelance journalist Vinod Verma on October 27, 2017, on claims that he used a sex tape to extort and blackmail a minister from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Chhattisgarh region– claims the journalist denies, according to news reports.
Journalist arrested in restive Chhattisgarh state in India
On September 29, 2015, police in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh arrested a journalist on what his colleagues said were fabricated charges in connection with his reporting on human rights abuses by local authorities, according to news reports.