Global award for slain scribe Lankesh
BENGALURU: Kannada journalist Gauri Lankesh, a strident critic of religious extremism who was shot dead last month, has been honoured with a prestigious global award, given in the memory of a slain Russian reporter and political activist.
Lankesh, 55, shared the Reach All Women in WAR’s (RAW in WAR) Anna Politkovskaya Award with Gulalai Ismail, 31, a Pakistani peace activist who has faced death threats for speaking out against the Taliban.
“This award is a morale booster for people who want to write, and fight...It honours what Gauri stood for -- that you cannot silence me,” Lankesh’s sister, Kavitha, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation .
In a note, the award committee said, “It is not by coincidence that Gauri’s work, her personality and the way she was killed for her work reminded us so much of the way Anna lived and died for the truth”.
Lankesh is the first person from India to receive the honour.
Addressing a press conference here, Kavitha said the award does not belong to the family but to “everyone who stood by Gauri”.
Lankesh, an outspoken newspaper editor, was shot dead outside her home by unidentified assailants in Bengaluru on September 5, raising concerns about press freedom in India.
Opposition parties and critics say that journalists seen as critical of the ruling BJP and its brand of Hindutva are often insulted on social media and women reporters have been threatened with assault.
Lankesh often wrote about religious violence, the malaise of India’s hierarchical caste system and criticised the rise of hardline Hindu groups since the BJP swept to power in 2014.