India
Journalists demand protective lawPosted Feb 13 2012
Almost 100 Indian journalists went on a protest in the city of Mumbai on Feb. 3 to demand a new law to protect them against attacks.
The protest was held by journalist associations after the Times of India office in Mumbai was attacked on Jan. 28. Nearly 60 members of political party Shiv Sena had vandalized the office after one of their publications carried a report speculating that one of the Shiv Sena party’s members of parliament would defect to the ruling party, Gulf News reported.
Gurbir Sighn, president of the Press Club in Mumbai, said in an article in the Indian Express that the attack reaffirmed the need for a law to protect journalists.
Nikhil Wagle, editor of IBN Lokmat, said in an article in The Hindu that there have been 212 attacks on journalists and media houses in the last two and a half years, and 11 journalists have been killed in the last decade.
“I have seen several attacks on journalists in my career,” Wagle said in an article in OneIndia. “Even I was attacked on many occasions, but the approach of the government is lackadaisical. Most of the attackers are politicians. The government is reluctant to take action against them.”
Journalists said they would take the issue to Prime Minister Manmohan if a law was not made for their protection.