New Delhi, 5 July 2023: The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) expresses serious concern over the life-threatening attack on Shivam Arya, a journalist working for a regional news channel in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior district on Saturday last. While the police are ascertaining the reason behind the attack, the Union said it was clearly pre-planned and a thorough investigation was critical to apprehend the three suspects immediately.
Shivam was abducted early morning of June 30, taken to Shikarpura village, where he was confined and brutally beaten up in a room situated on a hill and then driven to Dabra, a tehsil in Gwalior, where he was again subjected to physical assault and abuse. Later one of the kidnappers made a video call to an unknown person and then shot at him, with the first bullet grazing his temple and the second hit his thigh. While the kidnapper was reloading the firearm, Shivam pushed one of them aside and managed to flee, and was able to narrate the incident to a local person after one km, who then alerted the police, who rushed him to a nearby hospital.
The police said a bullet which was lodged in his skull was surgically removed and his condition was stable. Besides, Shivam’s wife had previously filed a case against one of the young men allegedly involved in the attack. The police suspect the attack may have been to seek revenge or attempting to extort money from Shivam and they had identified three suspects.
In a statement, IJU President and former member of Press Council of India Geetartha Pathak and Secretary General and Vice President of International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Sabina Inderjit said that safety and security of working journalists is at stake throughout the country, including Madhya Pradesh. Journalists are being attacked, harassed and intimidated by both State and non-State actors and the police must investigate Shivam’s case as priority to ascertain the reason for the brutal attack and bring the culprits to book immediately.
