The Indian Journalists Union joins its State affiliate, the Chhattisgarh Shramjivi Patrakar Kalyan Sangh (CSPKS), in condemning the brutal assault on senior journalist and Bhoomkal monthly magazine Editor Kamal Shukla and manhandling of other journalists in Kanker district, Bastar region, on 26 September by supporters of the ruling Congress and a local corporator. The union demanded that the culprits are brought to book and a case of attempted murder be registered against them.

According to CSPKS, Shukla had gone to the police station on Saturday to file a complaint against some goons who had beaten another journalist, correspondent of daily Shram Bindu, Satish Yadav, who has been consistently writing against alleged corruption in the municipal corporation. Shukla was mercilessly beaten by the supporters outside the police station and according to him and some witnesses one of the assailants had even brandished a pistol threatening to kill him.

On learning about the incident, journalists from 20-odd districts reached Kanker on Sunday and staged a dharna outside the collectorate, demanding the culprits are apprehended by 30 September or else they will stage a protest outside Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel residence. The CSPKS and journalists have also demanded that the Congress government ensure such incidents do not occur and that the law for the safety of journalists as promised by it be enacted. In a statement, IJU President and former Member, Press Council of India Geetartha Pathak and Secretary General and IFJ Vice President Sabina Inderjit said the incident reconfirms the rising harassment and intimidation of journalists by powers that be to suppress the truth. The attack must be viewed as an attack on freedom of the press and the citizens’ right to information. They demanded the police arrest the culprits and the government fulfil its promise to have a safety law in place without any further delay.