India's Struggle with Extrajudicial Violence and Journalist Safety Measures

The killing of a former lawmaker and his brother in police custody in India's Uttar Pradesh state has highlighted the issue of extrajudicial attacks and killings, driven in part by ethnoreligious divisions fomented at the highest levels of government. The Ahmeds, members of India's Muslim minority, were killed amid a huddle of reporters asking questions. Police moved swiftly to restrain the apparent assailants, including at least one who was chanting "Jai Shri Ram," or "Hail Lord Ram" — a religious phrase that has become a Hindu nationalist slogan, sometimes heard in crowds carrying out attacks on Muslims.