On Tuesday, senior journalist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead in her own house in Bengaluru. She had started her own tabloid magazine in 2005 titled Gauri Lankesh Patrike. One of her stories even landed her in jail.
According to a report in The NewsMinute, she was shot at 6:30 PM by unidentified men. Police were quoted saying that she was opening the front door of her house when assailants shot at her, hitting her in the chest. She was the daughter of writer, translator and journalist P Lankesh and was a vocal critic of Hindutva and the right wing.
Last year she was convicted of criminal defamation in two cases.
BJP MP Prahallad Joshi and BJP leader Umesh Dushi had filed defamation cases against Lakesh in objection to a report on them on January 23, 2008.
Karnataka police chief R K Dutta said Lankesh was shot dead by unidentified assailants at the entrance of her residence in Raj Rajeshwari Nagar.
Lankesh, in her 50s, edited a Kannada tabloid 'Gauri Lankesh Patrike' besides owning some other publications.
Dutta said Lankesh had not voiced apprehension about any threat to her life during a couple of meetings he had with her.
Asked about who could be the possible suspects in the killing, the officer refused to hazard any guess, saying "let the investigation proceed first."
Karnataka Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy condemned the incident, calling it unfortunate.
Lankesh was convicted in a defamation case filed by BJP MP Prahlad Joshi over a report published in her tabloid against some saffron party leaders.
Several people in media and public life took to twitter to express shock at Lankesh's killing.
"As a friend, colleague & admirer for decades shocked & shattered to hear of the murder of Gauri Lankesh, one of India's gutsiest journalists," said Vir Sanghvi, an eminent media personality.
"If it is BJP ruled state, Liberals would have cried for emergency, Intolerance, Fascism," tweeted National Conference leader and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah.
Lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan tweeted: "Shocking & tragic! Brave journalist Gauri Lankesh who exposed the BJP has been shot dead in her home in Bangalore!"
She had told News Laundry in an interview: “Unfortunately, today anybody talking in support of human rights and against fake encounters is branded a Maoist supporter. Along with that, my criticism of Hindutva politics and the caste system, which is part and parcel of what is considered ‘Hindu dharma’, makes my critics brand me as a ‘Hindu hater’. But I consider it my constitutional duty to continue - in my own little way - the struggle of Basavanna and Dr Ambedkar towards establishing an egalitarian society.”
