Silencing of scribes: Gauri Lankesh's murder adds to the death saga

Exposing the wrongdoings and expressing dissent has turned out to be risky in modern India with the rise in attacks on journalists in the past two years.

The attacks show that the alleged nexus targetting scribes adamant on digging out the truth has strengthened and the mightiness of pen is under the attack of sword.

The killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh has once again shown that our nation is not a safe haven for investigative and outspoken scribes, as threat of death seems looming over them.

The journalists are increasingly under fire for their reporting. They are killed, attacked and threatened.

According to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), five journalists were killed in 2016. India is eighth on a list topped by Iraq.

According to the largest global federation of journalists' trade unions report-:

· Tarun Mishra, Bureau Chief of Jan Sandesh Times, was killed on February 14. He was shot dead.

· Indradev Yadav, a Journalist with Taaza TV, died on May 16. Also known as Akhilesh Pratap Yadav, he was gunned down by unidentified miscreants near his home in Kolkata while he was on his motorcycle.

· Rajdeo Ranjan, the Bureau Chief of Dainik Hindustan, passed away on May 14. Siwan town of Bihar saw Ranjan being gunned down by some assailants as he was returning from his office in the evening. The CBI is investigating the case.

· Kishore Dave, the Bureau Chief of Jai Hind, got killed on August 22. Dave was brutally stabbed in the chest repeatedly, while he was penning a story.

· Dharmendra Singh, a Correspondent of Dainik Bhaskar, on November 12. He was killed in Sasaram by unknown motorcycles borne assailants .

In 2015, targetted killings of six mediapersons, including those from news channel Aaj Tak and Hindi daily Dainik Jagaran were reported.

Similarly, earlier this year Minister of States (MoS) Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir informed during question hour in the Lok Sabha that 142 attacks on journalists took place between 2014-15.

The committee to protect journalists also reports that from 1992-2017 in India, 40 journalists have been killed with a confirmed motive, while 27 journalists have been killed in cases where the motive has not been confirmed.