Shot by an unidentified assailant and left bleeding on the road, Indian journalist Devendra Khare considers himself fortunate to have escaped along with his life.

The Uttar Pradesh correspondent for News1India had been speaking with associates exterior his workplace on February 26 when two males on a bike pulled up subsequent to them. One of them opened fireplace.

Khare suffered gunshot wounds to his abdomen and proper hand, and says he’s now underneath police safety.

Beh Lih Yi of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) advised VOA that the assault on Khare underscores the precarious situations for native journalists in India.

At least three have been killed since 2022; journalists are repeatedly attacked or threatened; and media workplaces together with the BBC have been raided.

Shooting comes after report

A journalist for greater than twenty years, Khare advised VOA he has by no means been attacked on this means earlier than.

In Khare’s police criticism, he named Rituraj Singh as allegedly being concerned. Singh is the brother of Pushpraj Singh, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Jaunpur district.

Just a number of days earlier than the capturing, Khare had reported on Rituraj Singh’s alleged involvement in an assault.

Khare advised VOA that Singh’s associates had pressured him to retract the story.

“Rituraj’s associates warned me not to report the incident,” Khare mentioned, including that he believes the assault on him could also be associated.

VOA was unable to search out contact particulars for Rituraj Singh.

VOA contacted the BJP state workplace by way of e mail to ask for remark and extra info, however as of publication had not acquired a response.

But Pushpraj Singh was cited in native media denying the allegations in opposition to his brother.

“This is a big conspiracy against me. I am the district president of BJP. My detractors are unable to find any reason to target me and are hence, finding ways to target my family,” Pushpraj Singh mentioned.

Narrow escape

On the day he was attacked, Khare had simply left his workplace in Jaunpur.

“I was talking with other journalists outside my office,” he recalled. “Suddenly, two men on a bike pulled up near us, and one of them, covering his face with a piece of cloth, approached us and fired a pistol at me.”

One of the bullets hit Khare’s cell phone earlier than hanging him.

“The bullet hit my right-hand finger, which was holding my cell phone, but luckily, the phone stopped the bullet.”

A second bullet missed him narrowly, and Khare fell to the bottom. He believes the assailant could have assumed “he had hit me as I was bleeding profusely.”

A shopkeeper noticed the assault and tried to cease it, throwing a stone on the gunman who fired again, Khare mentioned. Fortunately, the gunman missed. “The attacker fled the scene, firing a few more shots in the air.”

Khare mentioned that his situation is secure and that he now has police safety.

“I have complete faith in the police and judiciary of Uttar Pradesh,” he advised VOA.

‘Worrying sample of assaults’

CPJ’s Beh mentioned she hopes that state police “swiftly hold the perpetrators accountable and take action to guarantee the safety of journalists under threat.”

In an e mail to VOA, Beh mentioned the CPJ has documented a number of circumstances in India lately, “ranging from censorship to raids at the BBC offices and the killing of journalist Shashikant Warishe, who reported on a land dispute.”

If India doesn’t act on these points, she mentioned, it will likely be “sending the wrong signal to the world in the year that the country chairs the G20.”

“India must realize a free press is the foundation of a functioning democracy and stop treating journalism as a crime,” she mentioned.

India is likely one of the most harmful international locations for media, in accordance with Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

“Journalists are exposed to all kinds of physical violence including police violence, ambushes by political activists, and deadly reprisals by criminal groups or corrupt local officials,” says the media watchdog’s country assessment.

On the RSF press freedom rankings, India ranks 150 out of 180 international locations, the place 1 has the very best media setting.

Tim Crook, who’s chair of the skilled practices board of the Chartered Institute of Journalists in Britain, advised VOA that the assault on Khare is “an example of an extremely worrying pattern of attacks on journalists” in India.

“The reputation of India’s democracy will depend on the engagement of a robust, independent and effective investigation of such intimidation and attacks on working journalists and bring those responsible to justice,” Crook mentioned by way of e mail.

In Khare’s case, the violent assault left him undeterred. “I will not give in to these assaults and [will] continue my work as a journalist and report the truth,” he advised VOA.