Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Brave Journalist brutally silenced' that was published in Newsband

Brave Journalist brutally silenced

The brutal murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru has shocked the country.  The manner in which she was brutally murdered raises extremely worrying questions. It was clearly a professional hit-job, a pre-meditated assassination.

Lankesh was the publisher and editor of the Kannada weekly Gauri Lankesh Patrike. She supported Naxalites, Dalits and Farmers, and opposed Hindutva groups.

These brutal attacks have the power to potentially scare off others — activists, journalists, complainants — from sniffing around too much. Defenceless individuals have to pay such high costs to bring the powerful to book.

Lankesh’s murderers must be expeditiously traced and punished — another unsolved crime will only embolden the criminals. These Kind of Incidents would never put Journalists Down. Instead it will create a Strong Aspiration to reveal the Scams and Dacoities. Because in India, the rejection for releasing a movie is smaller than releasing a Book. They are Unsung Heroes who put Societal Problems in a Clear Picture.

The police and other intelligence agencies, including RAW should engage in finding out the culprits. Hope the Karnataka police investigate the case professionally without any prejudice and without being carried away by the political warmongering. The powers in state or centre, should not try to misdirect the course of investigation and try to gain some political mileage. It is a clear case of murder punishable under the law in force. That's all and that is the only fact to be taken into consideration if the governments are really interested in rule of law and peaceful society.

A murder is always barbaric and condemnable but biased outcry has probability to deflect the path of investigation. The group raising fingers in a particular direction is not helping to bring the culprit to book. It is expected the responsible should abide by the ethics.

Karnataka has witnessed a spate of political murders in the last four years. The rhetoric is so familiar that it drowns sense. If left wing intellectuals are mowed down, it is linked to RSS. If it is RSS members who are killed, it is linked to some

Muslims. Police are committing suicides without explanation. The sad fact is that there is no wisdom about these deaths after an initial hue and cry. It is time Karnataka Police are given a free hand and given a fair chance to finish this probe at the earliest and convictions actually happen. Media should not be used to name phantom killers depending on personal biases

One cannot deny the fact that the voice of a brave journalist has been brutally silenced.