NEW DELHI: Even as he ruled out a special task force to investigate the attack on journalists, Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary told the Parliament today that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) had started collecting data on attack on media persons under grievous hurt since 2014. 

Data on murder of journalists is not maintained separately. According to available data, a total of 113 cases were registered and 30 persons were arrested for attacks on mediapersons (grievous hurt) during 2014. 

Chaudhary said that the Home Ministry had not received the report on “Safety of Journalists” from the Press Council of India. 

The provision of security to an individual is primarily the responsibility of the State Government in whose jurisdiction such individual ordinarily resides. Security is provided strictly on the basis of threat assessment made by the Security Agencies. There is no separate categorization of protectees for journalists/media persons, although individual journalists/media persons are also among those who apply for security cover.