Journalist Gauri Lankesh laid to rest with full state honours

NEW DELHI: Senior journalist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead by three unidentified assailants outside her residence last night, was laid to rest in

Chamrajpet

in Bengaluru this afternoon.

The mortal remains of the slain scribe were lowered to the grave amid chants of "Amar rahe Gauri Lankesh (Long live Gauri Lankesh).

Lankesh, who was the editor of popular Kannada tabloid "Gauri Lankesh Patrike" was given a state funeral and a gun salute was performed to honour her.

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, Congress leader and member of Parliament M Veerappa Moily and other state leaders paid their last respects to Lankesh at Chamrajpet. The CM has ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to be formed to conduct a probe into the murder.

Members of the Kannada film fraternity, activists, members of the general public were seen at the venue paying their homage to the noted journalist, while friends and family members bid her a tearful farewell.



"We will not follow any religious customs for Gauri's last rites, which are to take place later this evening. She was a rationalist and we do not want to go against her ideologies," the slain journalist's brother Indrajit Lankesh told media persons previously.

Infographic: Journalists who have been killed with impunity

Earlier in the day, prominent journalists had congregated at the

Press Club of India

(PCI) in the national capital to demanded justice for Lankesh and raised the call for standing up to "forces" trying to "muzzle" the voices of dissent.

The PCI had strongly condemned the violent killing of Lankesh, saying, "A fearless and independent journalist who gave voice to many causes and always stood up for justice has been shot dead in the most brutal manner in order to silence her voice."

An outspoken critic of Hindutva politics, Lankesh was the editor Kannada tabloid Gauri Lankesh Patrike, besides owning some other publications.

Read this story in Marathi(With inputs from Agencies)