The resentment brewing over the killing of a Bangaluru-based journalist Gauri lankesh was heard loud and clear in this part of the region on Wednesday with not just the scribes, but the intellectuals and even the legal luminaries dubbing it as an attack on freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Constitution.
The incident, that comes hard on the heels of “attack” on media during violence at Panchkula after Dera sect head Gurmeet Ram Rahim was convicted of rape, has also raised the demand of bringing in a law to ensure safety of journalistic fraternity.
Gauri, a noted journalist, publisher and a well-known critic of the right wing, was shot at her residence in Bengaluru on Tuesday evening by four unknown assailants — an incident that shook the nation as a whole.
The development has raised safety concerns among the journalist and has apparently left them apprehensive about the extent to which they can report matters without compromising their security. For, this is not the first killing of a journalist who raised voice and reported the “wrongdoings”.
Patiala MP Dr Dharamvira Gandhi, strongly condemning the gruesome murder of an activist and journalist, said that it amounted to murder of democracy and freedom of expression.
“Noteworthy is the fact that like many other secular, rationalists and free thinkers, Gauri lankesh always wrote and fought against the forces which are out to destroy the religio- cultural diversity of our country. Fingers are being raised that this murder is handiwork of those Hindutva forces, which are behind the murder of Dr Dabolkar, Pansare, and Dr Kulbargi during the last three years,” he said.
Agreeing, Association for Democratic Rights, Punjab unit president Prof AK Malari said: “This reminds me of the killings of three eminent intellectuals in Karnataka and Maharashtra — Dr (Narendra) Dabholkar, Dr Govind Pansare and Dr MM Kalburgi…Gauri lankesh’s murder is happened in the same way as in the past the three were murdered, means it’s the same forces which is not allowing the media to raise their head.”
He blamed it on the inappropriate investigation by the authorities concerned, while demanding stricter punishment and thorough investigations into the killing.
Raising a slew of questions, Associate Professor at the School of Communication Studies at Panjab University, Chandigarh, Bhavneet Bhatti said: “Freedom of press is a quintessential ingredient for a meaningful democracy. An incident like this shakes the very foundations of our system.”
“As an individual involved with writing for media and training media professionals, I believe, the virtues of objectivity, neutrality and fearless reporting must be imbibed by all and thus strong actions need to be taken against the culprits,” she stressed adding that solidarity in media fraternity and a timely action in punishing the perpetrators of this crime is a must as an immediate action.
Bhatti maintained that the Government, in long term, need to ensure safety of media professionals and safeguarding their freedom of expression.
On the same line, the Chandigarh Press Club (CPC), which hold a protest against the Gauri’s shocking killing, demanded protection to all the journalists to ensure the freedom of the press.
Describing the killing as the “blackest day in the history of journalism”, Club’s senior vice-president Saurabh Duggal maintained, “This is a fight for ideologies. If the communal forces are thinking that they are going to suppress the thinking of others through violence, this will not be going to happen.”
Another senior journalist Sandeep Dixit, who had also worked with Gauri, said: “It is high time for the journalists to come together and raise their voice against the continual incidents of silencing the voice of the media persons.”
Remembering Gauri during the CPC’s protest at Sector-17 piazza, Dikshit said that she was a fearless journalist who never backed out from going against the establishment.
Many other senior journalists from the region, while demanding immediate arrest of the culprits of the killing, also demanded to make laws for the protection of the fraternity.
“Article 19 and 21 were of paramount importance and professionals in all fields are required to be given a sense of security to speak and work,” stressed the former Acting Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice (retired) Mehtab Singh Gill, who is currently looking into “false” cases filed in the past decade in Punjab.
Condemning Gauri’s murder, the National Media Confederation’s Panjab unit termed it as yet another attack on fourth pillar of democracy due to failure of the government machinery. “We demand thorough probe into the horrific attack and punishment to the culprits,” read the official statement.
Renowned journalist and The Tribune’s former Editor-in-Chief Raj Chengappa, who is also the head of Editors Guild of India, said that her killing “is an ominous portent for dissent in democracy and a brutal assault on the freedom of the press”.