UNESCO chief speaks out against death of Indian reporter

The head of the United Nations agency tasked with upholding press freedom today deplored the death of a senior reporter for a daily newspaper due to injuries sustained in a bombing in northern India earlier this month.

Vijay Pratap Singh, 38, who worked for the Indian Express, was wounded in an attack against a local politician in the city of Allahabad on 12 July. Eight days later he succumbed to those injuries.

He was visiting a Cabinet minister from Uttar Pradesh state and had just stepped out of the official’s residence when a bomb was detonated, wounding seven people, including Nand Gopal Nandi, the state’s Institutional Finance Minister.

“Freedom of expression, a fundamental human right essential to a democratic society, can only exist if journalists can do their work in safety,” said Irina Bokova, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

“I call on the Indian authorities to do everything in their power to bring the culprits of this attack to justice, and to ensure there is no impunity.”