Sai Reddy

Personal

Sai Reddy was born in 1962 and was from Basuguda, an area hit hard by the insurgent Naxalites. Reddy was held by the security forces in 1998 under the Essential Commodities Act and again in 2008 for suspected relationships with the Maoists. His wife had a shop. He was known by peers and employer as independent and critical of all sides and careful to check on facts and figures while reporting.

Reddy's writings on the Naxal violence in the region gained him unwanted attention, and he was known to have angered the security forces, the anti-Maoist group Salwa Judum, and the Maoists. Reddy was held by security in 1998 under the Essential Commodities Act and again in 2008 for suspected relationships with the Maoists.

Death Sai Reddy was murdered by 4 or more men after leaving the market in Basguda on 6 December 2013. The cause of death was from head and neck injuries that were caused by stabbing and beating. The attack occurred during the afternoon in front of witnesses. The attackers used sharp-edged weapons on Reddy when they attacked him, and he died en route to the hospital. Reddy had been receiving threats from the Maoists for some time. The Maoists officially took responsibility more than a month after the Reddy's murder. Forbidden Stories named Sai Reddy as 1 of 13 reporters investigating environmental issues that were killed between 2009 and 2019.

Reaction Within 45 days of Reddy's murder, the Maoists not only took responsibility for his murder but said they were mistaken about his working for the police. Journalists in Basaguda marched through the lands of the Maoists over a three-day period to protest his death and out of concern for their own safety.

The Indian Journalists Union called for arrests. The president and secretary of Journalists' Forum Assam (JFA) called Reddy's murderers "cowards" and threw their support behind the journalists of the Chattishgrah who demonstrating against Reddy's murder. The JFA, which has also experienced problems in Assam supported the principle of neutrality of journalists between political and security forces

Irina Bokova, the director general of UNESCO, also responded to Reddy's murder, "I urge the authorities to investigate this crime. Violence against media workers undermines the ability of journalists to carry out their work freely as well as the right of citizens to receive the independent information they need."

The Committee to Protect Journalists requested that India investigate his murder and a spokesperson said, "Journalists in Chhattisgarh have become targets in the conflict between the Indian state and the Maoists for simply reporting the realities on the ground."