Sai Reddy

Sai Reddy (ca. 1962 – 6 December 2013) was an Indian journalist for the Hindi-language newspaper Deshandhu. He was murdered by the Maoists near a market in Basaguda, Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh.[1][3] Both the Maoists and police were suspicious of Reddy's allegiance to the other side. Maoists believed he was assisting police to dislodge the Communist Party of India. The police arrested him for having close ties with the communists.[4] Some journalists believed that Reddy was killed by other farmers.[5] He was known for playing an active role in the people's movement in Basaguda over the last few decades.[6]

Sai Reddy
Bornca. 1962
Died6 December 2013
Basaguda market, Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh
Cause of deathStabbing and beating
OccupationJournalist
Years active20 years
EmployerDeshbandhu (Hindi-language newspaper)
Known forHis reporting in the Bijapur district on the conflict between Maoists and security forces
Criminal charge(s)Reddy was held by security in 1998 under the Essential Commodities Act and again in 2008 for suspected relationships with the Maoists.[1][2]

Personal

Sai Reddy was born in 1962 and was from in Basuguda, an area hit hard by the insurgent Naxalites.[1][7] Reddy was held by security in 1998 under the Essential Commodities Act and again in 2008 for suspected relationships with the Maoists.[1][2] Many rural journalists supplement their incomes by selling agricultural products while also working as journalists, and Reddy also used this method to supplement his salary.[1][8] His wife had a shop.[1] He was living in Bijapur at the time he returned home.[7]

Career

Sai Reddy was a rural journalist. He reported on rural topics, as well as on corruption cases. He had at least 20 years of experience and covered the conflict with the Maoists for that long.[9] He was known by peers and employer as independent and critical of all sides and careful to check on facts and figures while reporting.[2][5][10]

Reddy's writings on the Naxal violence in the region gained him unwanted attention, and he was known to have angered the security forces, the anti-Maoist group Salwa Judum, and the Maoists.[1][5][6] Tribal families in the Chhattisgarh area were subjected to violence during the insurgent conflict with the Indian authorities.[11] Reddy was held by security in 1998 under the Essential Commodities Act and again in 2008 for suspected relationships with the Maoists.[1][2] Around 2008, Reddy fled Chhattisgarh after his house was destroyed by fire and the police had arrested him, and returned later after apologising to the Moaists.[1][3][12]

Death
New Delhi
Basaguda
Location of Basaguda in India, where Reddy was murdered shown relative to the capital New Delhi.

Sai Reddy was murdered by 4 or more men after leaving the market in Basguda on 6 December 2013. The cause of death was from head and neck injuries that were caused by the stabbing and beating incident. The attack occurred during the afternoon in front of witnesses.[1][7][12][13][14][15] Reddy had been receiving threats from the Maoists for some time. The Maoists officially took responsibility more than a month after the Reddy's murder.[6] The Maoists used sharp-edged weapons on Reddy when they attacked him, and he died en route to the hospital.[16] His troubles with the Maoists went back as far as 2008 when they torched his house.[1][3]

Context

By the time Maoists killed Sai Reddy, over 1500 civilians in the area had been killed by the armed political group.[13]

Impact

Sai Reddy was one of at least eight Indian journalists who were killed during 2013.[1][12] The level of violence against journalists in 2013 in India surpassed the previous high level of violence reached in 1997 when seven were killed.[12] Nemi Chand Jain was also killed in Chhattisgarh in February 2013.[3][5][17] According to news reports, Jain was killed by the Maoists and the group had confirmed it, which makes Reddy the second journalist killed by the Maoist in 2013.[7][14][18][19] He was one of 70 journalists killed worldwide in 2013.[20]

Reaction

Within 45 days of Reddy's murder, the Maoists not only took responsibility for his murder but said they were mistaken about his working for the police.[1][4]

After his killing outside the market in front of eyewitnesses, police suspected Maoists and that was confirmed by a press release released after the attack.[19] Journalists in Basaguda marched through the lands of the Maoists over a three-day period to protest his death and out of concern for their own safety.[21]

The Indian Journalists Union called for arrests.[22] The president and secretary of Journalists' Forum Assam (JFA) called Reddy's murderers "cowards" and threw their support behind the journalists of the Chattishgrah who demonstrating against Reddy's murder. The JFA, which has also experienced problems in Assam supported the principle of neutrality of journalists between political and security forces[17]

Irina Bokova, the director general of UNESCO, also responded to Reddy's murder, "I urge the authorities to investigate this crime. Violence against media workers undermines the ability of journalists to carry out their work freely as well as the right of citizens to receive the independent information they need."[23]

The Committee to Protect Journalists requested that India investigate his murder and a spokesperson said, "Journalists in Chhattisgarh have become targets in the conflict between the Indian state and the Maoists for simply reporting the realities on the ground."[3]

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See also

References
  1. John, Joseph (6 December 2013). "Maoist kill journalist in Bastar". The Times of India. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  2. "Indian journalist murdered in Chhattisgarh state". Committee to Protect Journalists. 10 December 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  3. Greenslade, Roy (11 December 2013). "Indian journalist beaten and stabbed to death". The Guardian (UK). Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  4. Suvojit, Bagchi (8 April 2014). "Maoist say journalist killing was a mistake". The Hindu. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  5. "Killing reflects erosion of Maoist ideology?". Thehoot.org. 8 December 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  6. Suvojit Bagchi (18 December 2013). "Maoists claim responsibility for killing Bastar journalist". The Hindu. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  7. "Naxals kill journalist in Chhattishgarh". Daily News and Analysis. 6 December 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  8. Suvojit Bagchi (28 January 2014). "Whose journalism is it anyway?". The Hindu. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  9. "Maoists kill journalist in Chhattisgarh". Hindustan Times. 6 December 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  10. "Prominent journalist, Sai Reddy, found dead in South Chhattisgarh; Maoist hand suspected". Daily Bhaskar. 19 December 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  11. "Maoist murder scribe in full public view". Daily Pioneer. 7 December 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  12. "Veteran journalist beaten to death in Chhattisgarh". Reporters Without Borders. 11 December 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  13. Aman Sharma, ET Bureau 21 December 2013, 06.21AM IST (21 December 2013). "Binayak Sen condemns; Sai Reddy not informer: DGP". The Economic Times. Retrieved 26 April 2014.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. "Suspected Maoists, armed with weapons, kill mediaperson in Chhattisgarh market". NDTV.com. 7 December 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  15. "Sai Reddy – Journalists Killed". Committee to Protect Journalists. 6 December 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  16. "Sai Reddy". Safety of Journalists/IFJ. 6 December 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  17. "JFA condemns killing of Chhattisgarh journalist Sai Reddy". Assam Times. 12 December 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  18. Suvojit Bagchi (6 December 2013). "Prominent journalist killed in south Chhattisgarh". The Hindu. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  19. "Maoists claim they killed journalist". The Financial Express. 19 December 2013. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  20. Wan-Ifra. "70 Media Employees Killed in 2013". Wan-Ifra. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  21. "C'garh scribes march through Maoist stronghold to protest Reddy's killing". India Express. 27 January 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  22. "IJU condemns killing of journalist". The Hindu. 10 December 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  23. Source: Unescopress (18 December 2013). "Director-General condemns the killing of journalist Sai Reddy in India's Bastar region | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization". UNESCO. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
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