User:Crtew/Karun Misra

Karun Misra, (ca.1984 - February 13 2016 ), is an Ambedkarnagar Bureau Chief Journalist for the Local Hindi Daily Jan Sandesh Times in the Sultanpur district in Uttar Pradesh, India. While living in India’s most populous state, Misra was one of the many Indian journalists killed as a direct result of corruption inside the country and the third killed in Uttar Pradesh in the year 2016. On February 5 2016, Misra received threats on his life that would be carried out on February 12 2016. On February 13 2016, he was on his way home from work around the middle of the day when he was gunned down by two men on motorcycles in the Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India New Delhi. His death along with many other journalists’ deaths have been covered up for a while. It has not been until recently that attention has been brought to the killings of journalists in India.

Personal
Karun Misra, born in 1984, was one of the many Indian journalists that fatally faced a very corrupt India. Upon his death, he was married to Payal Misra with two children. One of these two children was a 15-day old baby. Karun Misra was the brother to Varun Misra. Around the time of his death, he lived outside of India’s capital city, New Delhi (28.6139° N, 77.2090° E).

Career
Karuna Misra was a journalist that worked as an Ambedkarnagar Bureau Chief for the Local Hindi Daily Jan Sandesh Times. He successfully reported on illegal mining and a successful story on a former Parliamentarian. It was said by friend of Misra, Anil Dwevedi, that Misra was a very “soldier-like” journalist. Misra claimed she knew him to “not call police and say ‘something is happening’ and they should go there”.

Death
Shortly after Karun Misra reported on some illegal mining in the area near his home, he received death threats days prior to his murder as a result from Organised crime in India. After refusing to take bribes, Misra was gunned down by mafia members on the way home from work around lunch time on February 13 2016 by two motorcyclists passing by. Upon being shot, he was raced to the hospital where he died shortly after.

Investigation
The Uttar Pradesh Prime Minister Akhilesh Yadav urged the state’s police to form a special team to look into the killing of Misra. It was later discovered that five men were hired to carry out the murder. These men appeared to be locals paid $1,500 USD each to help kill Misra. This included two contractors, who identified as Aman Singh and Mama, and three other men who identified as Ajay Singh, Sandeep Singh, and Haider Abbas. The contractors escaped, but the other three men, including both shooters, were arrested by the Saltanpur Police. It is very rare to see shooters in these cases in Indian be arrested. It is unclear if these men were ever charged properly. Upon his death, his family received financial compensation. An officer was also suspended for not handling the illegal mining in the area that Misra was reporting on.

The attack and death of Karun Misra happened inside the Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India (26.2977° N, 82.1278° E).

Context
There is illegal mining that takes place for a variety of sand and minerals all all across the country, know as illegal Mining in India. Karun Misra was fighting against an extremely powerful and illegal industry. Misra was targeted by mafia members because of his reports that exposed local illegal soil mining. Inspector General A. Satish Ganesh issued a statement after Misra’s death that two mining contractors in the area were not happy with the reporting Misra had done. Approximately 24 journalists have been killed in India since 1992, the majority of which were killed after reporting on political cases. The journalists that dare to speak out against these mining practices are confronted by mafia members with lots of direct force and violence.

Impact
Over the past decade, there have been more than ten journalists killed in India for exposing illegal activities. There has been no one convicted for any of these murders, because of the country’s corruption. Karun Misra’s death along with all the other journalist deaths have collectively been a head turning catalysts to better protecting journalists in every part of the world one and for all.

Reactions
The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav, encouraged the state’s police director general to form an investigative team to look into Karun Misra’s death. The killing of journalists takes place in India without a second thought or glance. Misra’s death is one of many that has sparked a fire in the Indian community to make a change. The President of the country has openly acknowledged that journalism is beginning to become more dangerous inside the country, and Uttar Pradesh in particular.

Misra’s murder was condemned by The Committee to Protect Journalists as well as UNESCO director Irina Bokova. "We must all do our part to preserve the freedom of the press, civil society and human rights defenders to do their work," United Nation’s Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

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