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Murder of a journalist

Social media is abuzz with journalist's murder. I knew Gauri Lankesh as a colleague in Eenadu. Of late she has become the editor of a Kannada language tabloid started by her late father.

Read she was convicted in a defamation case involving two politicians including a member of Parliament of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, and faced jail sentence. She was on bail and about to file an appeal againat the verdict in the higher court.

Scribes in their zeal to call spade a spade do often overdo it and a few end up inviting defamation cases against them.

I haven't though gone into the details of Gauri's case but I know she wasn't pronounced death sentence.

There are political ramifications of her gruesome murder. Whoever benefits from her murder is not the question. The question is about the late surge of kangaroo courts. Much is already being written about the lynch mob.

This is not a trait of a healthy society. These are disruptions...not healthy disruptions. We need to debate this disturbing trend vigorously and honestly. Culprits should be brought to book quickly. We can not avoid political insinuations...but we don't expect that either.

--Deepak Parvatiyar

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