Senior journalist and well-known activist Gauri Lankesh was on Tuesday shot dead outside her residence in Rajarajeswari Nagar in Bengaluru. Unknown assailants fired 7 bullets at her from a close range while she was unlocking the door of her house. She was reportedly being followed by three men since the time she left her office for home on Tuesday.
Gauri had been a fierce voice against the right wing ideology and policies. She was the owner and editor of a Kannada newspaper Gauri Lankesh Patrike. In several interviews, she had spoken about how worried she was at the state of freedom of expression in India.
In 2016, a Bangalore court had convicted her of defamation in two cases and sentenced her to six months in jail. The two cases were filed by Dharwad MP Pralhad Joshi and BJP leader Umesh Dushi against a report published on them in her newspaper on January 23, 2008. Holding her guilty, the court had then said that the article was baseless.
However, she had then defended herself saying that there are some people who wanted to see her behind bars. She had been granted anticipatory bail in the case.
As soon as the news of her death broke out, journalists and those who followed her work remembered her as a gutsy woman who would never fear to speak her mind. Social media is flooded with angry reactions from people condemning her murder. Several questions have been raised about how the free voice is being silenced by such murders and whether there is any right to dissent left in the society.
The cold-blooded murder of Gauri #Lankesh is an assault on all our fundamentals, please remember. Somber moment, but don't ignore the alert
— Sankarshan Thakur (@SankarshanT) September 5, 2017
Politicians, you have failed India. You have nurtured violence with your patronage. No matter which party you belong (you switch often) to.
— Arunava Sinha (@arunava) September 6, 2017
Don't be shocked. Go after the killers.
Bring them to book.
Act.
We don't need words.
We need action. #GauriLankesh https://t.co/qMKmeFnjsj— Saikat Datta (@saikatd) September 5, 2017
Journalism is nothing without courage. Democracy is nothing without dissent. You had plenty of both #GauriLankesh You live on as inspiration
— Shekhar Gupta (@ShekharGupta) September 5, 2017
Poisonous violence of mind being spread on social media to browbeat critics; on street, its the gun that silences dissent. #GauriLankesh
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) September 5, 2017
Saddened by the murder of #GauriLankesh. India wasn't supposed to be a country where journalists are silenced by bullets. Her voice rings on
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) September 5, 2017
Dig up #gaurilankesh's work and throw in their faces all her words. Make sure they are heard today as never before. Her torch is ours now.
— Vidyut (@Vidyut) September 5, 2017
Killing of #GauriLankesh is not only tragic but terribly scary as well. Mere dissent or disagreement as a brave journalist cost her life.
— S lrfan Habib (@irfhabib) September 5, 2017
They say the pen is mightier than the sword.
Unfortunately, today, the gun is mightier than the pen.
RIP #gaurilankesh
May voices never die.— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) September 5, 2017
Parallels are also being drawn with the murders of Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, and MM Kalburgi. Narendra Dabholkar, anti-superstition activist and one of Maharashtra’s most vocal rationalist, was shot dead in 2013 by two men on a motorcycle while he was on his morning walk. Another rationalist Govind Pansare was among many who stood near Dabholkar’s body condemning his murder but just a year and a half later, he too was shot near his home and died 4 days later. In the same year, MM Kalburgi, who fiercely spoke against superstition and idol worship was shot and killed in his home.
Systematic campaign of killing logical opposing voices? First it was Dabholkar, Kalburgi, Pansare. Now a journalist #GauriLankesh murdered?
— Mrs Anjali Damania (@anjali_damania) September 5, 2017
Pansare, Kalburgi, Dabholkar, Lankesh, who is next? What is going on? Why haven't the guilty been caught in previous cases? #GauriLankesh
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) September 5, 2017
In India we bow to frauds like Ram Rahim and kill men and women of reason & inquiry like Pansare, Dabholkar, Kalburgi & now #gaurilankesh
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) September 5, 2017
Another liberal, rational voice snuffed out by "unidentified assailants". Gauri Lankesh RIP. Dabholkar, Kalburgi, Pansare. Who killed them?
— Renuka Shahane (@renukash) September 5, 2017
From Bangalore to Delhi, several protests are being organised across the country to condemn the brutal murder of the veteran journalist.
#GauriLankesh Mumbai tomorrow 6PM, Carter Road.. # pic.twitter.com/krViNVAXO6
— Mayank Saxena (@_MayankSaxena) September 5, 2017
Tomorrow at 3pm protest meeting over the murder of #GauriLankesh in Press Club of India along with IWPC & Press Association. Please share.
— Jairaj Singh (@JairajSinghR) September 5, 2017
We should all wear black bands tomorrow. On air and at press conferences and on the field. We should stand together
— Faye DSouza (@fayedsouza) September 5, 2017
The one who never stopped questioning. @satishacharya 's tribute to #gaurilankesh pic.twitter.com/aYJlCJwq0v
— DP SATISH (@dp_satish) September 5, 2017
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