GAURI Lankesh, an independent publisher and Editor of a Kannada publication, was killed in cold blood on September 5, in her house. Till today the police have not made any arrests. In Tripura, on September 21, a television reporter Shantanu Bhowmick was brutally killed in broad daylight while covering a protest rally. A day later K J Singh, a retired journalist from The Tribune was murdered at his home along with his mother in Mohali, Punjab.
These are three gruesome murders in just one month. In the last one month alone nearly 100 journalists have been threatened for expressing free opinion. Senior TV anchors like Rajdeep Sardesai and Ravish Kumar have been getting regular death threats. Trolling on social media has become a norm.
The danger to freedom of press appears real.
To protest against the killings and threats, the journalists’ organisations have decided to discuss a way forward. A ‘SOLIDARITY DAY’ will be observed nationwide by press clubs and journalists’ organisations in the country on October 2.
In Mumbai, the Mumbai Press Club and Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh have jointly organised a protest meeting at the Mumbai Press Club on Monday, October 2, at 4.00 PM at the Conference Hall.
Speakers include:
1. Kumar Ketkar, President, Mumbai Press Club
2. Narendra Wable, President, Marathi Patrakar Sangh
3. Shobhaa De, Independent columnist
4. Sudheendra Kulkarni, Observer Research Foundation
5. Nikhil Wagle, senior journalist
6. Pradnya Pawar, writer and poet