Gauri’s murder triggers stir, Home Minister heckled

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Sep 6 2017, DH News: The shocking murder of noted journalist Gauri Lankesh on Tuesday night shook the peaceful, though dimly lit Ideal Homes locality in West Bengaluru’s Rajarajeshwari Nagar.

Gauri Lankesh, the daughter of writer and journalist P Lankesh, was switching on the light in her verandah after returning from work when three unidentified assailants tailing her on a
two-wheeler dropped in and fired four bullets at point-blank range.

Neighbours did hear the sound but mistook it for firecrackers. When they realised that it was actually gunshots, it was too late. They called the police. As soon as the news spread, the usually quiet locality started buzzing with people — residents, women’s rights activists, human rights activists, et al. The crowd soon started raising slogans.

One of the slogans — ’Yesterday it was Kalburgi, today it is Gauri, tomorrow who?’ — pierced through the night sky. As the crowd gathered and the sloganeering continued, Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy was one of the first people to arrive at the spot. He was heckled by the crowd who demanded why hasn’t the state government been able to hunt down the killers of Prof M M Kalburgi. It also asked how long will it take to bring Gauri’s murderers to book.

The crowd also wondered aloud how emboldened the Hindu right-wing groups had become while the government remains inept.

Gauri’s family, too, rushed to the spot. Her sister, Kavitha Lankesh, a filmmaker, and her mother Indiramma were inconsolable. Bengaluru Police Commissioner T Suneel Kumar, too, reached Gauri’s residence. Forensic experts got to work soon after. Hundreds of people were camping around the house until midnight.

K Y Narayana Swamy, theatre person and a close friend of Gauri’s, said: "The series of murders, where one after other rationalists and free thinkers have been killed, shows that we are going away from our roots of tolerance. Those using violence in the name of religion are setting a dangerous trend."