March on foot to protest against the brutal murder of Sitapur Journalist by Indian Journalist Association.

Media workers unanimously demanded Uttar Pradesh government to make Journalist Protection Act.

Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.

In protest against the brutal murder of Dainik Jagran journalist Raghavendra Vajpayee in Sitapur, journalists under the leadership of National President of Indian Journalist Association Seraj Ahmad Quraishi tied black bands on their hands and marched on foot from Kali Mandir Golghar to District Magistrate's office, shouting slogans like hang the journalist's murderers and implement Journalist Protection Act, handed over a memorandum addressed to the Honorable Chief Minister to Deputy District Magistrate Finance Vineet Singh in the absence of District Magistrate.

In this peaceful march on foot, officials and journalists of Indian Journalist Association registered their protest by joining the march. The journalists present unanimously demanded the government to make Journalist Protection Act. Media workers were very angry about this brutal murder and strongly condemned this incident.

National President of Indian Journalist Association, Seraj Ahmad Quraishi said that journalists are constantly being harassed and killed in Uttar Pradesh. All media persons are angry with the brutal murder of Dainik Jagran journalist Raghavendra Vajpayee in Sitapur and Ashutosh Srivastava in Jaunpur and the incident of stripping and harassing two journalists by the Municipal Council President in Mahoba. All media persons have unanimously demanded from the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh that just as the governments of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have made and implemented the Journalist Protection Act in the interest of journalists, the Uttar Pradesh government should also make and implement the Journalist Protection Act. 

Mr. Quraishi further said that the government should provide compensation of Rs. 1 crore to the family of the deceased journalist, a government job to one family member and education for their children. License forms should be issued to insecure journalists on the basis of priority within 15 days of application for arms license for self-protection without NSC and journalists are being harassed by corrupt officials and leaders dissatisfied with not writing news in their favor and getting fake cases registered against them in the police station. To stop the harassment of such journalists, a committee of District Magistrate, Superintendent of Police, Information Officer and District President of Indian Journalist Association should be constituted in each district and after conducting an impartial inquiry of the complaints filed against the journalists, action should be taken only if found guilty. The journalists of towns, blocks and cities should be given a group accident insurance of Rs. 5 lakhs by the government. The installment of which should be paid by the government and warning was given that if the state government does not accept our demands, then Indian Journalist Association will be forced to take to the streets and stage protests in the entire state. 

Other media persons also expressed their anger on this heinous murder by giving their statements. 

 Indian Journalist Association's National President Seraj Ahmad Quraishi, State Treasurer Purvanchal Naved Alam, Zonal President Gorakhpur Rafi Ahmed Ansari, Zonal Secretary Satish Chandra, District Spokesperson Satish Mani Tripathi, Zuber Alam, Ashutosh Kumar, Ajmer Khan, Tehsil President Anshul Verma, Zakir Ali, Ramakrishna Sharan Mani Tripathi, Meraj Ahmed, Dr. Shakeel Ahmed, Dr. Ved Prakash Nishad, Ramashankar Gupta, Durgesh Mishra, Vinay Tiwari, Sunil Kumar Bharti, Shravan Kumar Gupta, Mohammad Azam, Ahad Karim, Rafiq Ahmad and other media persons participated in this protest march and submission of memorandum.