Guwahati: Chasing the criminals involved with the murder of Ashutosh Srivastava, a journalist based in Jaunpur locality of Uttar Pradesh (UP), the Mumbai police have caught a notorious cow smuggler from Bhiwandi area of the commercial capital of India. Ashutosh (45), who was associated with nationalist television channel Sudarshan News, died after the miscreants shot him on 13 May on the outskirts of Jaunpur city. The injured scribe was sent to a nearby hospital but the attending doctors declared him dead.
Shockingly even after Ashutosh informed the local police about the threats he received following a series of reports on cow slaughtering & smuggling incidents, they did little. However, facing the heat of protests, the UP police have initiated to arrest Jamiruddin Qureshi as the mastermind of the crime. The accused Jamiruddin is a seasoned criminal and he is being taken to Jaunpur for trials. Ashutosh is the 46th victim among journalists killed since 1 January this year across the globe, said the Geneva-based global media safety and rights body, Press Emblem Campaign (PEC).
Strongly condemning the murder of Ashutosh, PEC president Blaise Lempen demanded a fair probe to identify and punish the perpetrators under the law of the land. He even urged UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath to take personal interest in booking the culprits. PEC has extended moral support to the local scribe’s body (Jaunpur Patrakar Sangh) in its fight for justice to Ashutosh. The agitated journalists are asking the government to offer Rs 50 lakhs to the bereaved family.
As the slaughtering of cows, which is adored by the Hindus as a holy animal, remains illegal in UP, media reports often come out on relentless conflicts between the cow traders and Hindu nationalists. Ashutosh might have become a victim of circumstance, but he deserves justice, said PEC’s south Asia representative Nava Thakuria. Monday also witnessed the fourth phase of polling under India’s general elections 2024 to form the 18th Lok Sabha and three phases are still waiting for voting, where the counting for votes will take place on 4 June (results are also expected the same day).
It may be mentioned that the Indian subcontinent has reported five journo-casualties this year till date, where the trouble torn Pakistan lost three scribes (Maulana Mohammad Siddique Mengal, Jam Saghir Ahmed Lar and Tahira Nosheen Rana) and Myanmar lost one (Ko Myat Thu Tun) to assailants. Last year, Pakistan lost Imtiaz Baig, Ghulam Asghar Khand and Jan Mohammed Mahar and India witnessed the killing of Shashikant Warishe, Abdur Rauf Alamgir and Vimal Kumar Yadav. Similarly, Ashiqul Islam and Golam Rabbani Nadim lost their lives in Bangladesh, where Husein Naderi and Akmal Nazari were killed in Afghanistan.