In a devastating attack on the freedom of the press, Gauri Lankesh, editor of a Kannada weekly, was shot dead in front of her home in Bengaluru on Tuesday night. There was an outpouring of grief and rage nationwide, protest marches and candlelight vigils, from Delhi to Bengaluru and Ahmedabad to Kolkata at the killing of a writer who had spoken out loudly against divisive and communal forces. Lankesh's killing, following that of other rationalists, M.M. Kalburgi in Karnataka and Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar in Maharashtra, in recent years, sent a chill down the journalist fraternity about the climate of fear and the signal this would send to dissenting voices.
Guari Lankesh, editor of “Lankesh Patrike” was shot dead at her residence on September 5, 2017 in Bengaluru that led to anxiety amongst the press community.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 27 Indian journalists have been killed since 1992, the year it began to keep count, "in direct retaliation for their work," and that there have been no convictions. In a report published last year, titled ‘Dangerous Pursuit,’ it said that more than half of those killed reported regularly on corruption.
