On Friday, the country and especially its journalist fraternity woke up to the grim news that missing Chhattisgarh journalist Mukesh Chandarkar was found dead in a freshly sealed septic tank belonging to a government contractor against whom he had published a story alleging corruption in a road contract. Chandarkar, who was known to many in the fraternity, as an uncompromising, ear-to-ground journalist who didn’t hesitate to ride deep into Maoist territory to get the story out, had done a story on how 52.4 km project on the Nelson-Kodoli-Mirtur-Gangalur route had been commissioned in 2010 at a cost of Rs 73 crore, but the cost rose to Rs 189 crore by 2021, and yet turned bad and in pitiable condition soon later.
His report on corruption in a road construction project prompted an inquiry by the state government into the project which is said to have led to his murder. The main accused in the case is currently absconding. More than that, however, his murder has prompted an outpouring of outrage and angst among the journalist fraternity over the risks that journalists, especially those on the ground, who don’t have the benefit of protection that comes with working for a major media house or news outlet, face.
The Press Council of India, the Editors’ Guild of India, and the Chhattisgarh Union of Journalists have called for swift, exemplary action against the perpetrators who are, incidentally, distant relatives of the slain journalist. The Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh too promised that there would be action.
The official platitudes aside, the incident is yet another reminder about why India’s ranking in the world press freedom index is so low. It would be easy to dismiss this case as the murder of a fringe correspondent, someone who works independently besides also running his own news channel on YouTube -- Bastar Junction.
But the fact remains that it is work done by foot soldiers like Mukesh who are the real pillars of journalism in this country. It is their groundwork that the major news outlets rely upon for understanding the ground situation, especially in a difficult-to-access place like Bastar and Bijapur in Chhattisgarh.
The question is, will the government, the powers that be take proactive action, not just in bringing the perpetrators of this murder of not just Chandarkar, but the murder of a free and independent press to justice, but also to ensure that the media and independent journalism is not stifled in its wake?
It will need more than just assurances and arrests to restore the confidence of journalists working on the ground to be able to sincerely believe that they can work without fear or favour after this chilling incident. That’s assuming the government even wants to ensure an environment where the media can work with the complete freedom it deserves and should ideally have in a democracy. Failure to do so will only mean that corruption will be allowed to carry on without any fear of being exposed leaving all of us that much worse off.
Mukesh Chandarkar is unfortunately dead, it’s upon us to ensure that free and fair media and journalism do not die with him.
