Lakhimpur Kheri: Editors Guild Demands Court-Led SIT Probe into Journalist’s Death

In a statement, the Guild noted that there are “competing versions” in the media on whether the death was caused by bullet wounds or not.

New Delhi: The death of TV journalist Raman Kashyap in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence is shocking and raises many questions, the Editors Guild of India (EGI) said on Tuesday and demanded that a separate probe be conducted by a court-led special investigation team to ascertain the circumstances under which he died.

“EGI is shocked by the death of Raman Kashyap… He was killed along with eight others in the violence that erupted after some vehicles were driven through the protesting farmers allegedly under the instructions of Ashish Mishra, son of Union minister of state, Ajay Kumar Mishra,” the EGI said.


Kashyap was reporting on the events of the day when – in what the EGI called a “horrific incident” – the VIP convoy ran through protesting farmers, killing some of them.

From Kashyap’s house in Nighasan village, The Wire has exclusively reported on his family’s reaction to the death and their complaint that his role in covering the event was responsible for his death.

In a statement, the Guild noted that there are “competing versions” in the media on whether the death was caused by bullet wounds or not. It also labelled the incident as a terror attack intended to scare farmers.

“In what is clearly a terror attack meant to spread fear amongst the farmers, the killing of Kashyap raises many questions. There are competing versions about Kashyap’s death including a version that claims he died of bullet wounds,” it added.

The EGI said an independent inquiry is, therefore, needed to establish the cause of the TV journalist’s death.

“The Editors Guild demands that the death of Kashyap be separately probed by a court-led special investigation team to ascertain the circumstances of his death and also attempt to recover and use the footage of his camera to build the sequence of events leading to his death,” the EGI said.

The Editors body also expressed concern over the varying versions of the incident in different sections of media.

“The EGI is concerned about the varying versions of the incident in different sections of the media. It is imperative for the media to report the facts and not versions,” it said.