A national-level convention will be held in Bengaluru on Tuesday to protest the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh and to “condemn and resist” such attacks on free expression.
“The message that the killers of Gauri wanted to send us, progressive thinkers and democrats, was that we should shut up or face consequences. But we need to tell them in clear voice that we are not afraid and we will exercise our constitutional right of free expression,” said senior Kannada writer K. Marulasiddappa, while announcing the day-long convention.
The meet will be on Central College Grounds by the Gauri Lankesh Hatya Virodhi Horata Vedike, a platform formed by a group of writers and thinkers, in the aftermath of her killing. Several national-level activists are expected to participate, said K. Neela, convener of the vedike.
The writers and activists will take a protest rally from Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station to the Central College Grounds.
When asked about the debate on the appropriate investigation agency to probe the killing, Mr. Marulasiddappa said though he was fine with the SIT probe, he personally felt that a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the murders of Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M.M. Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh would be more effective.
However, the vedike has now taken a stand that they will wait for the results of the SIT probe, said Ms. Neela. Kannada writer Chandrashekhar Patil said that while it was the job of the investigators to catch the culprits, the needle of suspicion pointed at Hindu right-wing activists, as Gauri’s murder was eerily similar to the other three murders and agencies had arrested Hindu extremist members for the murders of Dabholkar and Pansare.
Noted personalities Teesta Setalvad, P. Sainath, Sagarika Ghose, Anand Patwardhan, Rakesh Sharma, Prashanth Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, among others, are likely to attend the meet.
