The murder of Bijapur-based journalist Mukesh Chandrakar, allegedly over his reporting on corruption in road construction, has rekindled the debate on a law for the protection of journalists in Chhattisgarh.

Passed by the Bhupesh Baghel-led government in March 2023, the Chhattisgarh Protection of Media Persons Act, 2023, sought to protect journalists, their properties and offices from violence. However, it has since been in cold storage since being notified in June 2023. At the time, BJP MLAs who were in the Opposition demanded that the Bill be sent to a Select Committee for further examination, but this was rejected by then Speaker Charandas Mahant. The BJP came to power in the state in December 2023.

Days after Chandrakar’s body was found, local journalists met at the Raipur Press Club on January 4 to discuss, among other issues, the 2023 law. Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai has since assured it will be implemented.

In 2019, a committee led by retired Supreme Court Justice Aftab Alam — it comprised judges, lawyers, and journalists — began drafting the law. Alam travelled around Chhattisgarh to meet journalists before submitting the draft to the government in 2020.

“Back then, the bureaucracy had issues with the draft as it called for a statewide election to make a committee to implement the law. Then, the law called for the imprisonment of even bureaucrats and journalists if found guilty (of filing false complaints in the case of journalists). Both these provisions were removed from the final draft, but government servants can be fined up to Rs 25,000,” said a committee member.

As per the provisions in the final law, all media professionals, from interns to senior journalists in Chhattisgarh, must be registered in a government database. State and district-level committees were to be formed to receive and address complaints by journalists. These committees were empowered to recommend protection for journalists in the event of an emergency, conduct inquiries, protect media workers from unfair prosecution based on reports from Superintendents of Police to be filed within 15 days, and fine government officials for failing to uphold the provisions of the law.

“On October 6, 2023, a six-member committee was also made by the previous government comprising three journalists, including a woman, a legal expert, a government official, and chaired by a retired IAS officer. But it did not meet a single time,” said journalist Diwakar Muktibodh who was part of the panel.

On the safety of journalists in the wake of Chandrakar’s murder and the status of the law, the CM has said, “Our government is with journalists. We will also bring a journalist protection law. But the way we took swift action (in Chandrakar’s case) is known not only in Chhattisgarh but also the entire country.” When The Indian Express contacted Home Minister Vijay Sharma, he declined to comment saying Sai had “already said the law will be implemented”.

An official close to Sai said, “Some journalists from Chhattisgarh said the law made by the Congress was weak. So we will make it strong, and as CM Sai said, it will be implemented. It is said the law has no clarity on registration of media persons and on the authority for giving prosecution sanctions.”

Echoing the official’s views, Praphull Thakur, the president of the Raipur Press Club, said, “For the last six months, we have been raising the issue and finally in November we were given assurances by Vijay Sharma. The law made by the previous government is weak and needs to be made stronger. The present government must either make a strong law or must implement the present law, but it must not be delayed any further.”

Asked why the law had been on paper only for over a year under the BJP government, BJP spokesperson Kedar Gupta said, “A lot of things remain pending but now its urgency is being felt. The BJP’s stand is that it must be implemented soon. The Congress just gave false assurances for years and their CM (Baghel) only made announcements, but we will implement it in the right spirit.”

The Congress alleged that the law was not implemented because the government changed months after it was notified. “We made the law after which the government changed,” said Congress spokesperson Sushil Anand Shukla.”The BJP government should have implemented it. This is injustice towards journalists. If anyone is saying it’s weak then they must clarify what is weak. Also, at least we made a strong law, and if the BJP is of the view that it’s weak then why did you not bring a strong law in the past year?”

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