New Delhi, July 4: After being degraded to the 138th position in the World Freedom Index, India has now been reprimanded by media watchdog 'Reporters Without Borders', officially known as Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), for the killing of 7 journalists in the last 18 months.

While four scribes have been murdered in the first six months of 2018, three were killed in the preceding year in their line of duty.

In its 'Incident Report', RSF claims press freedom in India has further degraded after being ranked as 138th among the 180 nations surveyed in the World Freedom Index. The ranking, issued in April this year, should serve as a reminder for the incumbent government to empower the press, the report said.

List of Journalists Killed in India in 2018:

  • Shujaat Bukhari, editor Kashmir-based English daily Rising Kashmir.

  • Navin Nishchal, Bihar-based journalist of national Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar.

  • Vijay Singh, a journalist of Dainik Bhaskar in Bihar.

  • Sandeep Sharma, a local reporter in Madhya Pradesh's Bhind working for News World, a regional TV station.

List of Journalists Killed in India in 2017:

  • Sudip Datta Bhaumik, a journalist working for a Bengali daily in Tripura.

  • Santanu Bhowmick, a scribe working for news channel Dinraat.

  • Gauri Lankesh, a columnist who ran her own weekly magazine, Gauri Lankesh Patrike.

Apart from the killing of journalists, RSF also condemned the Indian government for failing to crackdown on the "armies of trolls" whose loyalties are associated with the ruling party.

The report also marked dissent against the "hellish nightmare" subjected to journalist Rana Ayyub, whose recent book “"Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up" alleges complicity of officials in the killing of Muslims in the 2002 Gujarat riots. Narendra Modi, who is the incumbent Prime Minister, was the Chief Minister of Gujarat when the anti-minority pogrom broke out.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 04, 2018 07:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).