Use your power, use your pens as swords.

Journalism is a dangerous profession in India. India is ranked 133 out of 180 in the index of press freedom, 39 journalists have been killed since 1992, in 96% of cases the killers went free and in 4% there was partial justice and politics was the most dangerous field to report on, followed by crime. That is not surprising because criminals have the required illicit cash to bribe and the thugs to intimidate voters, to win elections. In India there is no system of primaries, as in the US, to select which candidate will stand for election but a system of 'tickets' decided by party high command. Thus, political parties deliberately pick criminals as candidates, because they have the money and muscle power to win. For criminals being a politician offers safety from the police, so politics and crime are intimately entwined in India. The previous prime minister insists he is honest because he did not gain from all the corruption in his government. Even when all the crime was revealed he did not have the decency to resign his post. He says that "history will be kinder" to him, which shows that he has absolutely no sense of honor. Not just physical violence, politicians use various statutes of the constitution to harass and intimidate journalists. In the world map of press freedom India is just above China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, not an achievement to boast about. Even though newspaper sales are declining in the rest of the world, with the rise of digital news, sales in India are booming, although most people have televisions in their homes today. Being such a vital service one would have expected enormous public support for journalists but that does not seem to be the case. Perhaps, there is a perception that the media is biased against certain political parties and certain communities. While there was a very high decibel witch-hunt for weeks over an alleged killing of a man who had allegedly slaughtered a cow, there is no reaction at all to the call to kill IAS and IPS officers by an Al Qaeda operative in India. Nor to the financial help provided to Islamic State militants by a member of parliament, who no doubt took the oath to protect the sanctity of India. Not just journalists, activists exposing crimes under the Right to Information Act are attacked and many have been killed. However, the biggest protection for criminals in India is our justice system which takes forever to pronounce a verdict. While ordinary people lose precious time and money criminals are free on bail to continue their with their luxurious lives. If journalists want to practise their profession in safety they must make common cause with the people. They have the unique power to mount a campaign for justice and punishing the wicked. Continue to write until it happens.