Many cases are still hanging fire
Gauri Lankesh’s murder probe should not fall by the wayside
Alink is being drawn between the ghastly murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru, that of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar in Pune in 2013, Govind Pansare in Kolhapur in 2015 and MM Kalburgi in Dharwad in 2015. It is too early to come to any conclusion about Lankesh’s killing as investigations are underway. But, many see this as an assault on the freedom of the press. Indeed, there is no denying that journalists have come under great pressure in recent times especially those reporting on injustices and corruption. There are two worrying aspects that must be highlighted. In all these cases as also similar ones which have not got much notice, the murders have not been carried out in any secretive manner. Rather, the killers have quite openly approached the victim and carried out the crime in full view of others and in the case of Lankesh,CCTV cameras.
This suggests that they have no fear of the law or of being apprehended. This also suggests that they may have powerful backers. The other is that these cases have been hanging fire for years. It can only be hoped that Lankesh’s case does not become a casualty to such apathy. The killers in all these cases have left behind enough evidence for the police to proceed on. From the time lag, we can only conclude that the police are either incompetent or are dragging out these cases for whatever reason. This is simply unacceptable. In Lankesh’s case, she had also been involved in rehabilitating Maoists and this also earned her many enemies. But from whichever source the threat came, it is inexplicable that the police did not have a greater handle on the situation and seem to have been caught completely unawares.
Unfortunately, media attention also wanes after such sensational murders allowing the police to get away with inaction and incompetence. In all the cases, the investigating officers have been changed frequently despite protests from the families. The longer these cases take, the less the likelihood of finding the culprits. It is time that we learnt of the progress made in these cases. Like those before, the case of Lankesh should not fall by the wayside once the attention has died down.