Five years after Gauri Lankesh's killing, trial taking its own time

On September 5, it was exactly five years since journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead by bike-borne assailants of right-wing Hindu groups.

A special court for Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act (KCOCA) cases had started the trial hearing of the case on July 4 this year. It was set to resume on her fifth death anniversary on September 5. However, the court adjourned the trial as the judge is on leave. The judge will return to duty on September 12 and fix the date for the trial on September 14. The trail is being conducted for a week every month since July this year.

The 55-year-old Gauri Lankesh, editor of Lankesh Patrike, a Kannada tabloid and the daughter of the late famous Kannada writer P Lankesh, was gunned down on September 5, 2017, near her residence at Rajarajeshwari Nagar in Bangalore West.

The 18 accused in brutal murder

In March 2018, the SIT arrested Naveen Kumar, an activist belonging to Hindu Yuva Sene, on the charges that he had conspired to kill Gauri Lankesh. Later, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) police named 18 accused in their chargesheet. 17 have been arrested and serving as undertrials in prison, while one accused Vikas Patil alias Dada is absconding.

Also read: Gauri Lankesh trial begins five years after murder

After eight months, in November 2018, the SIT filed another chargesheet, which ran to nearly 10,000 pages and mentioned 18 people who were allegedly involved in the murder of the Lankesh Patrike editor. This included Parashuram Waghmare, Amol Kale, Sujith Kumar, and Amit Digwekar – all of whom had alleged links with right-wing organisations such as Sanathan Sanstha and Sri Ram Sene.

The other accused are Ganesh Miskin, Amith Baddi, Bharath Kurane, Suresh H L, Rajesh Bangera, Sudhanva Gondalekar, Sharad Kalaskar, Mohan Nayak, Vasudev Suryavanshi, Manohara Edave, Srikanth Pangarkar, and Rushikesh Deodikar. With the trial still underway, conviction still seems distant.

Anti-Hindutva stand

According to the chargesheet, the accused who reportedly belonged to a right-wing group, were trained in using explosives and guns and had hatched a plot to attack Gauri between 2013 and 2018. And, they also planned to kill other activists in Karnataka and Maharashtra.

The SIT told the court that Gauri Lankesh was targeted for her views opposing the Hindutva organisations. To prove their theory, the SIT provided evidence from the diary of one of the accused, Amol Kale. His personal diary listed 36 names including that of writer Baragur Ramachandrappa, poet Chennaveera Kanavi, late playwright Girish Karnad, rationalist Narendra Nayak and others.

Two of the undertrials are in Mumbai prison, one is in the Pune prison and the rest of the accused are in Bangalore Parappana Agrahara jail. The SIT team framed the charges against the accused after two years since they were delayed by the COVID pandemic. The charges against them have been framed under the Indian Penal Code section 302 (murder), section 120B (criminal conspiracy) and the Karnataka Organised Crime Act and the Arms.

The court has recorded the statements of Gauri’s younger sister Kavita Lankesh. The public prosecution had started the trial by recording the evidence from a court witness, who was a close associate of the accused K T Naveen Kumar. Evidence was also collected at the place of Gauri’s murder and this was produced before the court including the bullets, cartridges, CCTV Digital Video Recorder (DVR) and other materials.

Also read: Exclusive: Kavitha on the making of new documentary on sister Gauri Lankesh

Kavita Lankesh’s statement 

Gauri’s sister Kavita had told the court that a few Naxal leaders had targeted Gauri because she was trying to bring back Naxals into mainstream society.

Dalit leader and Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani and JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar were associated with Gauri, said Kavita, adding that her sister was connected to playwright Girish Karnad and Chandan Gowda of Azim Premji University as well. However, it was “not right to say they are all Naxal sympathisers”, she added.

Other witnesses who appeared and testified before the special court were Gauri Lankesh’s neighbour, who saw the alleged shooters escaping after firing the bullets, a cable operator who found Gauri at the spot, a forensic expert, and a police officer.

Meanwhile, the defence tried to insinuate personal feud in the Lankesh family and also raked Gauri Lankesh’s alleged Naxalite connections.

Justice Chandrashekhar Mrutyunjaya Joshi, the presiding judge in the case, also struck down the defence’s argument of trying to link Gauri Lankesh to the activism of Jignesh Mevani and Kanhaiya Kumar, terming them as a ‘tukde tukde’ gang.

Marking the  anniversary

On Gauri’s 5th death anniversary, the Gauri Memorial Trust conducted a programme in Bengaluru, in which eminent writer Arundhati Roy, actor Prakash Rai, journalist D Umapathi and others participated.

The recorded speech of Teesta Setalvad, who recently got bail from Supreme Court in the Gujarat ‘conspiracy case’, was played at the event. She said that many accused were languishing for years waiting to get bail but the Bilkis Bano gang rape case accused were granted bail to celebrate. Arundhati Roy, whose mother had passed away three days ago, said that her mother would have been ashamed if she had not attended this programme. “Gauri used to call me whenever I wrote an article and we used to debate about issues,” she added.

Kavita Lankesh, Gauri’s sister said that if Gauri was alive, she would have been angry and anxious over the incidents in Shivamogga. “I wonder how Gauri would have felt about the Bilkis Bano case, in which the accused got bail and celebrated outside the jail,” she added.

Veteran actor Prakash Raj said the three women – Gauri Lankesh, Teesta Setalvad and Arundhati Roy – give us hope for a better society. He said that Gauri has not been buried in the ground, but a seed called Gauri has been kept in the soil for the seedling of hope to bloom and that we will all get the spirit to fight back.

Further, Prakash Raj, who had been a close friend of Gauri Lankesh, said the assassins were arrested, and the people who loved her have suffered but where are the real culprits? They are enjoying themselves somewhere, and they are the right-wing people who have drawn up such diabolical plans from a remote place, he said.

The actor said a movement is happening against governments, and it is not spearheaded by activists but by the common man including farmers, and women who are fighting to get their rights back through their protests. Only a public movement will bring change in society, he pointed out.