Reporters Without Orders Ep 193: BHU student missing for 1.5 years, crime in UP, UAPA in Tripura

This week, host Akanksha Kumar is joined by the Wire’s Sumedha Pal, BBC’s Kirti Dubey, and Newslaundry’s Avdhesh Kumar.

The discussion begins with Avdhesh’s report from Uttar Pradesh on how Shiv Kumar Trivedi, a Banaras Hindu University student, was picked up by the state police last February and has not been seen since. Avdhesh details the case and how Trivedi’s father hasn’t stopped searching for his son.

In the context of Uttar Pradesh, the panel also discusses a BBC study on hate crimes in the state, and Kirti’s report on lynchings there, some of which never made it to the media.

Sumedha talks about her report on the Tripura violence and UAPA charges being slapped against a number of people in the state. “It’s important to understand the kind of social media surveillance we are witnessing, the kind of social media censorship we’re witnessing,” she says, “and how what we do digitally could actually have so much impact on our real lives..."

This and a lot more as they talk about what made news, what didn’t, and what shouldn’t have.

Tune in.

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Produced by Parikshit Sanyal and Tehreem Roshan, edited by Samarendra K Dash and Deepanshu Bisht.