New Delhi: Sukanya Shantha, a reporter at The Wire, has won the Asian College of Journalism’s 2020 K P Narayana Kumar Memorial Award for Social Impact Journalism for her in-depth article on caste in Indian prisons, ‘From Segregation to Labour, Manu’s Caste Law Governs the Indian Prison System‘.
“The winning entry succeeds emphatically in giving voice to the voiceless and in shining a light on under reported issues. Sukanya Shantha, writing for The Wire, focusses on one of the most hidden of social issues – what happens behind bars in India’s prisons. The entry convincingly reveals the persistence of caste-based segregation, discrimination and division of labour within the prison system in states which have chosen not to adopt the ‘model’ prison manual. The official connivance in this persistence of caste-based inequality is shocking. The seeming reluctance of prisoner welfare organisations to address the issue is almost equally disturbing,” the jury said about her article.
“Sukanya Shantha’s article – From Segregation to Labour, Manu’s Caste Law Governs the Indian Prison System – powerfully meets the two essential requirements of successful social impact journalism: it exposes an injustice which has been very largely concealed from public view, and it lays the groundwork – through well researched and clearly expressed reporting – to stimulate and inform a campaign for redress,” it continued.
Speaking at the award ceremony on Thursday evening, Shantha said she hope more media organisations would start to cover prisoners’ issues, particularly the caste-based nature of India’s criminal justice system and how that affects who is incarcerated and how they are treated.
Soon after the publication of Shantha’s report in December 2020, the Rajasthan high court had taken suo motu cognisance of the matter and asked the government to revise its prison manual and remove clauses that assign work within prisons on the basis of caste. About two months later, the state government changed the manual – after 70 years of prescribing a caste-based division of labour. Several other state prison manuals, however, still retain such provisions.
The 2020 ACJ Award for Investigative Journalism went to Arshu John and Prabhjit Singh of Caravan magazine, for ‘Crime and Prejudice‘, an investigation in the communal violence in North-East Delhi in February 2020.
Arshu John and Prabhjit Singh.
“Their journalism is powerful, compassionate and compelling. It is built on the vivid and unsettling testimony of those who witnessed and suffered in those riots. Their article Crime and Prejudice goes far beyond simply reciting eyewitness accounts to testing and challenging the conflicting versions of what happened amid the chaos and confusion of the moment. Timelines are developed, contested narratives are challenged, and complaints to the police and FIRs cited and examined,” the jury said about John and Singh’s article.
“As with the best investigative journalism, this article looks at what happened from all perspectives, including going to some length to reflect the response of those named as complicit in the violence. The writing is clear and unsensational. The article draws a dismal picture of vicious communal riots conducted in plain sight and of vigilante groups acting with impunity, and chronicles the apparent culpability of some local politicians, the profound shortcomings in the police response and the seemingly vindictive pursuit by the authorities of what appear to be false criminal cases,” it continued.
Speaking at the ceremony, John said the award felt bittersweet as many of the people mentioned in their report, responsible for orchestrating violence against Muslims, were yet to be held responsible for their actions by the police.
The jury for the 2020 ACJ awards comprised Andrew Whitehead (chairperson), Anuradha Raghunathan and Parry Ravindranathan. Prize money for the investigative journalism award is Rs 2 lakh and the social impact award is Rs 1 lakh.
The awards were presented to the winners in a virtual ceremony on Thursday evening by chief guest Pratap Bhanu Mehta.