Geneva: Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), the global media safety and rights body, expresses concern over the murder of Indian scribe V Jaganmohan Reddy, who was hacked to death on Tuesday as the Telugu scribe went for a morning walk at Venkatagiri Kotain area under Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. Local media reported that Jaganmohan (40) was targeted by a group of miscreants with lethal weapons and he died on the spot. The ABN Andhra Jyothy newspaper scribe was later sent to Palamaneru government hospital for an autopsy.
Various journo-bodies organized protest demonstrations at Tirupati Press Club, where Indian Journalists Union (IJU) claimed that Jaganmohan was attacked just a few days after he reported on sandalwood smugglers in the locality. The national journo-body also demanded to formulate a strict policy to safeguard the working journalists and the press freedom in general.
“PEC condemns the murder of Telugu daily journalist on 28 April and urges the State government to thoroughly investigate the motive behind the killing,” said Blaise Lempen, president of PEC (pressemblem.ch), adding that the authorities must nab the culprits to punish them under the law. He also stated that Jaganmohan Reddy became the first media victim in India this year and 26th across the world.
PEC’s south and southeast Asian representative Nava Thakuria informed that Chittoor is the home district of AP chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, where Jaganmohan was murdered. The victim scribe left behind his wife and two children. Mentionable is that, India lost six journalists to assailants last year where the victims include Mukesh Chandrakar, Raghavendra Vajpayee, Sahadev Dey, Dharmendra Singh Chauhan, Naresh Kumar and Rajeev Pratap Singh.
