Bengaluru : Indian Federation of Working Journalist has condemned the gruesome killing of Gauri Lankesh, the bold editor of the popular weekly tabloid ‘Lankesh Patrike’. In a statement, the IFWJ President B V Mallikarjunaiah and the Secretary General Parmanand Pandey have asked the government of Karnatka to immediately bring the culprits to book and take stringent action against them.
It may be noted that, of late, the attacks on the journalists across the country have increased the mainly because of the rise of intolerance of different groups.
Although it is impossible to provide security cover to every journalist throughout the country, yet insuring of severe punishment to such anti-social elements will certainly be an effective deterrence, which will go a long way in protecting the journalists as well as other citizens. The IFWJ has also demanded that the government of Karnataka must adequately compensate the bereaved family of the late Gauri Lankesh. The IFWJ pays its homage to the courageous lady journalist, who made the supreme sacrifice for the sake of the protection of her constitutional rights of freedom of speech and expression.
DUJ Condemns Murder of Journalist Gauri Lankesh
Delhi Union of Journalists strongly condemns the dastardly murder of journalist Gaouri Lankesh and demands immediate identification and arrest of the culprits. It calls up on members to join a collective protest at the Press Club of India at 3pm today.
JFA condemns murder of Bengaluru journalist
Guwahati: Journalists’ Forum Assam (JFA) strongly condemned the murder of Bengaluru based editor-journalist Gauri Lankesh on 5 September 2017 by unidentified assailants. One of the senior journalist & social activists of Karnataka, Ms Gauri was shot dead at her residence in Rajarajeshwari Nagar on Tuesday evening. Ms Gauri, 55, was critical against all kinds of communal forces in the country. She also faced convictions in two defamation cases. Elder daughter of a noted Kannada litterateur- journalist P Lankesh, Ms Gauri used to receive threats from various extreme forces in the recent past, but she did not bow down. Survived by her mother, filmmaker sister Kavita, theatre worker brother Indrajit with others, Ms Gauriowned and edited ‘Gauri Lankesh Patrike’, a popular Kannada magazine.
Karnataka chief minister and also a senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah condemned her murder and assured proper actions to book the culprits at the earliest. “Apart from non-physical attacks to silence media, as the year 2017 rolls on, India stands at an awkward position over the journo-murder index, as we have witnessed the murder of six professional journalists in the last nine months. Hence, we reiterate our old demand for a special protection law for the scribes across the country,” said a statement issued by JFA president Rupam Barua and secretary Nava Thakuria.
Prior to Ms Gauri, a Haryana based television journalist (Surender Singh Rana) was shot dead on 29 July. Rana, 35, was associated with the Jammu-based news channel JK 24×7 News. The other victims include Kamlesh Jain, 42, (killed on May 31 in Madhya Pradesh), Shyam Sharma, 40, (May 15 in MP), Brajesh Kumar Singh, 28, (3 January in Bihar) and Hari Prakash, 31, (2 January in Jharkhand). India lost five journalists to assailants in 2015, which was preceded by two cases in 2014. However, 2013 reported as many as 11 journalists’ murders, as three northeastern media employees (Sujit Bhattacharya, Ranjit Chowdhury and Balaram Ghosh from Tripura) fell victim to the perpetrators.
