Risking It All

What Mukesh Chandrakar’s murder reveals about reporting from Bastar

- AKASH POYAM

On 3 January, the dead body of a journalist from Bastar, Mukesh Chandrakar, was found in a septic tank in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur. His autopsy revealed that he was brutally murdered, with several head fractures, heart ripped out and a broken neck. The accused, Suresh Chandrakar, who was also Mukesh’s close relative, was a contractor who had made a fortune through corruption and was exposed by Mukesh. The slain journalist was investigating a road project worth R120 crore, the initial budget for which was R56 crore but was later doubled. Mukesh used to report for platforms like NDTV, and also ran his own YouTube channel, Bastar Junction. His murder is the most recent, and most extreme, example of what journalists face while reporting from the Bastar region.

According to Mangal Kunjam, an Adivasi journalist from Bastar, journalists working in the region can be broadly categorised into four groups: journalists by profession, part-time journalists, stringers and newsagents, and guest reporters. Most reporters in Bastar are from the second and third category. This means they have no security, lack a formal contract with the news organisations they work with and receive little to no support from media houses. This creates a cycle of exploitation wherein local journalists or stringers do most of the work while the credit goes to the mainstream media.