Journalist community condemns killings of two scribes

New Delhi: The Press Club of India and the entire journalist community on Saturday condemned the brutal murder of two media persons in Bihar and Jharkhand and demanded action against the culprits by both the Centre and state governments.

Rajdeo Ranjan, the Siwan bureau chief of Hindi newspaper Hindustan, which is part of the HT Media, was shot dead at a busy market near Station Road in the district on Friday night. Four suspects have been detained in connection with his killing.

In the other incident, Indradeo Yadav, also known as Akhilesh Pratap, was gunned down in Jharkhand`s Chatra district on Thursday night. He worked as a correspondent for a local TV channel.

"Both, the murders of Rajdeo Ranjan in Bihar and Akhil Prasad Singh in Jharkhand were targeted killings and form a part of attempts on part the mafia to muzzle the independent voice of the media," said Press Club of India president Rahul Jalali.

"It is with increasing dismay we also note the increase in attempts to target the press throughout the country, by denigrating them and if nothing else works by eliminating them as has happened in these two cases," he said.

Nadeem Ahmad Kazmi, secretary general of Press Club of India, said: "It is in this context we demand from the government, both at the centre and states, to come down heavily on the culprits and also create an atmosphere conducive to the free and fair functioning of the media in the country."

"We also appeal to all media organizations in the country to come together and deliberate on how to resist increasing attacks on press freedom. In this context, we offer our forum for every media outfit to come together to strategise on the action plan for our battles ahead," he added.