Press Statement

IJU condemns murder of Journalist in Punjab

23 Sep, 2017

The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) strongly condemned the murder of senior journalist K J Singh and his mother in Punjab on Saturday. He and his mother were found dead in their house at Mohali near Chandigarh. According to police his throat was slit while his mother was strangulated. K J Singh was former news editor of Indian Express, Tribune and Times of India in Chandigarh.

In a statement issued here on Saturday, the Indian Journalists Union (IJU) President S N Sinha, Secretary-General Amar Devulapalli, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Vice-President Sabina Inderjit, Press Council of India (PCI) member K Amarnath expressed shock over the gruesome murder of veteran journalist K J Singh and his mother.

“It was Gauri Lankesh in Karnataka, then Shantanu Bhowmick in Tripura and now it is K J Singh in Punjab, three journalists killed in last three weeks in different parts of the country exposing the fragility of safety of journalists in the country. We urge upon the Chief Minister of Punjab to immediately take steps to track down the killdeers of K J Singh and his mother to allay the fears of journalists community.

“It is sad to note that the Union Government has not taken any action to enact a law at the national level for protection of journalists inspite of the recommendation of the Press Council of India (PCI). The journalist community and the civil and democratic opinion in the country should exert pressure on the government to move in the direction of enacting a law for safety of journalists,” the IJU leaders said.

Indian Journalists Union (IJU) urged upon the Chairman of the Press Council of India to take suo motu cognizance of the murder of K J Singh and take appropriate action.