Condemns murder of Bengaluru journalist
Guwahati, September 6, 2017:
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.
* This Press Release was sent to e-pao.net by Journalists' Forum Assam (JFA) who can be contacted at tnavajyoti(AT)gmail(DOT)com
This Press Release was posted on September 07 2017
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