Kamal Shukla

Kamal Shukla is a human rights activist and journalist for more than 30 years. He is the editor of Bhumkaal Samachar, a local publication that focuses on the rights of adivasi (indigenous) people in the Bastar area of Chattisgarh. He has actively reported against extra judicial killings in the region, which is in the cross-hairs of anti-maoist operations. Kamal Shukla initiated a movement demanding a law for the protection of journalists in Chattisgarh state through the organisation Patrakar Suraksha Kanoon Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti (joint committee for the legal protection of journalists), which he heads. He has been vocal about how the State targets journalists and individuals through arrests or false charges who speak up about the atrocities faced by adivasis.

In 2016, he investigated and reported a story about the alleged sexual assault and murder of an Adivasi woman by security personnel, for which he was threatened and attacked by pro-police goons. He also exposed corruption in the police force, who were running a gambling operation with local gangs. He has repeatedly been attacked and threatened for his stories through judicial harassment and sometimes even physically bu this has not deterred him in vociferously advocating Adivasi rights through his work.