NEW DELHI: UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova today called for an investigation into the killing of journalists Akhilesh Pratap Singh and Rajdev Ranjan who died in separate attacks in northeastern and central India respectively.

“I condemn the murders of Akhilesh Pratap Singh and Rajdev Ranjan,” the Director-General said. “I call on the authorities to investigate these killings to prevent impunity for crimes against freedom of expression and freedom of information from taking root.”

On 12 May, unknown assailants shot Akhilesh Pratap Singh, a correspondent for Hindi-language broadcaster Taaza TV, who was also known as Indradev Yadav, in the Chatra district of the state of Jharkhand in the northeast of India.

Senior reporter Rajdev Ranjan was shot on Friday 13 May in Siwan in the central Indian state of Bihar. He was the bureau chief of the Hindi-language national daily Hindustan.

Earlier, the Press Council of India also held a meeting to condemn the killings and called upn the Government to ensure security of newspersons in their line of duty.

The issuance of the UNESCO statements on the killing of media workers is in line with Resolution 29 adopted by UNESCO Member States at the Organization’s General Conference of 1997, entitled “Condemnation of Violence against Journalists.” These statements are posted on a dedicated webpage, UNESCO condemns the killing of journalists.