The Hindu ’s Jharkhand correspondent, Anumeha Yadav, has won the Press Institute of India - International Committee of the Red Cross award for the best Indian print media article on humanitarian issues.
Her article on an encounter between paramilitary personnel and the Maoists in which Improvised Explosive Devices were stitched into paramilitary personnels’ bodies in Jharkhand villages in January 2013 was selected from nearly 40 entries from across the country.
Four adivasi villagers had died when explosives were triggered when they lifted the body of a paramilitary trooper on officials’ instructions. Two days later, during the autopsy at a government hospital Ms. Yadav reported on how the doctor detected the explosives and alerted the police, and also how the conflict had paralysed the life of ordinary villagers, rural health workers who had to flee their homes as the encounter continued for several days.
At the ceremony organised in New Delhi on Thursday, Mini Thomas of The Week and Rising Kashmir ’s reporter Imran Muzaffar were jointly awarded the second prize. While Ms. Yadav won a cash award of Rs.50,000, the joint second prize winners were given Rs.30,000 each.
The function was preceded by a panel discussion on the theme “Violence against Health Care Services and Personnel – Operating in The Face of Danger,” moderated by P.N. Vasanti, Director Centre for Media Studies. The panellists were Pamela Philipose, Director and Editor-in-Chief of Women’s Features Service , Jaya Shreedhar, Founding Member of the Centre for Security Analysis, and A.J. Philip, a senior journalist.
