Autobiography of indian journalist killed

Indian Kannada-language activist and journalist

In this Indian name, the call Lankesh is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given identify, Gauri.

Gauri Lankesh (29 January – 5 September ) was an Indian activist and journalist from Bangalore, Karnataka.

She worked as an editor in Lankesh Patrike, a Kannada weekly started by her father P. Lankesh, and ran her own weekly called Gauri Lankesh Patrike. She was murdered outside her home in Rajarajeshwari Nagar on 5 September At the time of her death, Gauri was known for being a critic of right-wing Hindu extremism.

She was honoured with the Anna Politkovskaya Award for speaking against right-wing Hindu extremism, campaigning for women's rights and opposing caste based discrimination.^[1]

Early life and career

Gauri Lankesh was born in a Kannada Lingayat family^[2] on 29 January Her father was the poet-journalist P.

Lankesh, who established the Kannada-language weekly tabloid Lankesh Patrike.^[3] She had two siblings, Kavitha and Indrajit.^[4]

Gauri started her career as a journalist with The Times of India in Bangalore.

Later, she moved to Delhi with her husband, Chidanand Rajghatta. Shortly after, she returned to Bangalore, where she worked as a correspondent for the Sunday magazine for nine years. At the time of her father's death in , she was productive for the Eenadu's Telugu television channel in Delhi.

By this time, she had spent 16 years of her life as a journalist.^[5]

Lankesh Patrike

When their father P. Lankesh died, Gauri and her younger brother Indrajit visited Mani, the publisher of Lankesh Patrike, and told him that they wanted to cease the publication.

Mani convinced them against the idea. Gauri then became the editor of Lankesh Patrike, while Indrajit handled the publication's business affairs.^[5]

Beginning in , differences developed between Gauri and Indrajit over the paper's ideology.

These differences became public in February , when a report about a Naxalite attack on policemen, approved by Gauri, was published in the magazine. On 13 February, Indrajit (who was the paper's proprietor and publisher) withdrew the report, alleging that it favored the Naxals.

On 14 February, Indrajit filed a police complaint against Gauri, accusing her of stealing a computer, printer, and scanner from the publication's office. Gauri filed a counter-complaint, accusing Indrajit of threatening her with a revolver.

On 15 February, Indrajit held a squeeze conference, where he accused Gauri of promoting Naxalism through the paper. Gauri held a separate press conference where she denied the accusation and stated that her brother was opposed to her social activism.^[6] Gauri subsequently started her own Kannada weekly called Gauri Lankesh Patrike.^[7]

Political views and ideology

Gauri was a staunch critic of right-wing Hindutva politics.^[4][8] In , she opposed the Sangh Parivar's alleged attempts to Hinduise the Sufi shrine Guru Dattatreya Baba Budan Dargah located at Baba Budan giri.^[9] In , while participating in a protest demanding a ban on communal groups in Mangalore, she stated that Hinduism was not a religion but a "system of hierarchy in society" in which "women are treated as second-class creatures".^[10] She endorsed a minority religion tag for the Lingayat community and headed the Komu Souharda Vedike, a communal harmony platform for the dominated communities.

She was also of the view that the followers of philosopher Basavanna were not Hindus.^[7]

Gauri was known for advocating freedom of the press.^[4] She had written about the wrongdoings of the Indian National Congress leader, D.

K. Shivakumar, a close associate of the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, S. M. Krishna.^[11][5] She was opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and ended her year-old friendship with Prakash Belawadi when the latter became a media advisor to the BJP during the Indian general election.^[12] In November , the Congress-led Karnataka government appointed Gauri as a member of a committee aimed at convincing the Naxalites to give up violence and surrender.

However, a delegation of BJP leaders accused her of creature a Naxalite sympathiser and demanded her removal from the committee. The chief minister Siddaramaiah rejected the demand.^[13]

Gauri was openly critical of the caste system.^[4] In , some Brahmins accused her of criticising the novelist S.

L. Bhyrappa and Brahminism during the 81st Kannada Sahitya Sammelana (Kannada literary conference) held at Shravanabelagola.^[14] At the conference, Gauri remarked that the non brahmin- Dalit author Perumal Murugan was criticised by right-wing Hindu groups for depicting a childless Hindu couple who indulged in consensual sex rituals outside of marriage to have children in his book One Part Woman.

She then pointed out that the Brahmin novelist S. L. Bhyrappa had also depicted the similar Niyoga practice in his novel Parva, a retelling of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. She clarified that she was supportive of both these writers, and asked why the Hindu groups who were offended by Perumal Murugan were not offended by Bhyrappa.^[15] On 19 February , protesters from the Hassan Zilla Brahmin Sabha ("Hassan districtBrahmin Association") organised a rally against her, urging the police to register a First Information Report against her.^[14]

Defamation conviction in

On 23 January , Gauri published an article titled "Darodegilada BJP galu" in her newspaper.

The article criticised the BJP leaders Pralhad Joshi, Umesh Dushi, Shivanand Bhat, and Venkatesh Mestry.^[16] The article stated that the three BJP workers had cheated a jeweller of ₹, (equivalent to ₹, or US$1, in ).^[17] It also stated that the jeweller sought payment from Member of Parliament Joshi and threatened to approach the police should Joshi refuse to aid him.^[18] Gauri later claimed that the article was based on "sources within the BJP".^[17]

Joshi and Dushi filed separate defamation suits against Gauri.^[16] In Dushi's case, she was a co-accused with Devanand Jagapur, the writer of the article.^[18]

Gauri stated that she was being targeted for her left-leaning political views, as the BJP leaders did not sue other local dailies who had published the same allegations.^[17] Gauri moved the case to the High Court, seeking dismissal of the case against her.

However, in , the High Court refused to dismiss the case and gave instructions for the hearing to be continued in the lower court. The Steep Court granted a four-week wait on the case, however, and directed the lower court to complete the trial within six months.^[19]

In October , the second Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Court at Hubli issued an arrest warrant for Gauri after she failed to appear before the court and did not respond to earlier warrants.

The police detained her and produced her before the court on 1 October She was released on bail after furnishing a personal bond of ₹25, (equivalent to ₹36, or US$ in ).^[19]

On 27 November , the second JMFC court concluded that Gauri had failed to provide any substantial evidence for her criticism of the BJP leaders and create her guilty of defamation.

The court imposed a fine of ₹5, (equivalent to ₹7, or US$83 in ) on her in each case. Besides the total satisfactory of ₹10, (equivalent to ₹14, or US$ in ), the court also sentenced her to six months imprisonment.^[16] Her co-accused, Devanand Jagapur, was acquitted by the similar court.^[20] The same court granted her anticipatory bail, however, which made her avoid prison time.^[16]

Gauri stated that the BJP leaders had managed to cover their tracks by reaching a compromise with the jeweler; she refused to disclose her source for the corruption allegations against them.^[17] She also described the court verdict as a temporary setback and declared that she would challenge it in the higher court.^[16]

Personal life

Gauri and Chidanand Rajghatta divorced after five years of marriage;^[21] she remained single after the separation.^[22][23] Although she lived alone^[24] and did not own any children, she considered the activists Jignesh Mevani, Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid Shora her "adopted children" metaphorically.^[25][26][27]

Death

On 5 September , Gauri died after being shot by three unidentified men at her property in Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Bangalore.

The men fired at least seven bullets at her at around 8 p.m.

The gruesome murder of Indian journalist Mukesh Chandrakar has shone a spotlight on the dangers of reporting from some of the country's most volatile regions. Chandrakar's body was found last week in a septic tank in a compound owned by a contractor he had implicated in a story about corruption in Chhattisgarh express. Police have arrested the contractor and two others in connection with the year-old's murder. Chhattisgarh, a mineral-rich state, has witnessed an armed conflict for more than three decades and attacks by Maoist rebels on security forces are common.

as she was unlocking the main door of her house after returning from her office.^[28] One of the killers, who was waiting for her near her dwelling, fired the first shots at her, while the two others, who are suspected to possess followed her from her office, joined the initial shooter thereafter.

The killers were wearing helmets and escaped on a two-wheeler Honda Dio after the murder.^[29] Three of the bullets pierced Gauri's head, neck, and chest, killing her instantly.^[28][30]

Reactions

The murder was condemned by several people and organisations, including the Indian National Congress and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

The Congress leader and Karnataka Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy compared the murder to that of Narendra Dabholkar and M. M. Kalburgi. Controversial statements by BJP MLA D. N. Jeevaraj and Sri Ram Sena principal Pramod Muthalik were widely criticized.^[31][32] The state police chief, R.

K. Dutta, refused to advise any possible suspects without study. BJP leaders criticised the Congress-led state government for allegedly failing to protect the lives of Gauri and other writers prefer Kalburgi.^[33] Protests over her death took place all across India, including a rally in Bangalore a week after the funeral attended by more than 25, people.^[29][34]

Gauri was given a declare funeral with a gun salute on 6 September, after her body was kept for a few hours at Ravindra Kalakshetra for the public to spend tribute.^[24] She was buried in accordance with Lingayat customs.

Her family did not follow any religious customs for her as she identified as a rationalist.^[2] The BBC described it as the most high-profile journalist murdered in recent years.^[35]

The New York Times reported that several accounts followed by prime minister Narendra Modi had posted "hateful" tweets in response to Lankesh's assassination, prompting a debate in India.^[36]

Investigation

During their investigation, the police accessed CCTV footage from her residence and the route leading from Basavanagudi to her house.^[29] The city was kept on lofty alert the day after her death, with police deployed at toll gates in Nelamangala, Hosur Road and NICE Road in search of the killers.

Vehicles entering or exiting the capital underwent stringent checks, while police in the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu were also alerted.^[37] On 8 September, the Karnataka government announced a reward of ₹1 million (equivalent to ₹&#;million or US$16, in ) for providing information about the killers.^[38]

In , the Extraordinary Investigation Team (SIT) probing the murder case detained two suspects, whom they also suspected of being involved in the murders of Dabholkar and Kalburgi.^[39] In June , the SIT stated that Parashuram Waghmore had confessed to the murder: he claimed that he was told to kill someone to save his religion, and that he did not know who the victim was.^[40] In September , Maharashtra ATS detained 2 suspects akin to Gauri's murder and also recovered a cache of weapons from them.^[41] A March New York Times article on Gauri Lankesh includes a discussion of the police investigation and murder charges.^[8] Her relatives and friends discuss the investigation in a podcast published by openDemocracy^[42] in January

On 11 August , the special court for Karnataka Control of Organised Crime examined three more witnesses, including two policemen, in the murder trial.^[43]

In popular culture

The assassination is featured along with assassinations of other rationalists such as Narendra Dabholkar, M.

M. Kalburgi and Govind Pansare in the documentary mini-series Vivek-Reason by Anand Patwardhan.

Legacy

Gauri Lankesh is seen as an important figure for people who are protesting against rightward alter in the governance, for instance on her third death anniversary several journalists and activists participated in #IfWeDoNotRise campaign in her memory and in wake of arrests of dissidents across the nation.^[44]

In , Burnaby, a Canadian city decided to celebrate Gauri Lankesh Day on September 5 to commemorate her on her death anniversary.^[45]

In , "Forbidden Stories pursued Lankesh’s work on artificial news and explored new leads in her murder case" as part of the case series Story Killers.^[46]

Notes and references