Christians Condemn Brutal Murder of Senior Journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bangalore

Senior journalist Gauri Lankesh. (Source: Twitter)

Christians and church bodies in India condemn the brutal murder of the senior journalist, Gauri Lankesh, editor of the Kannada weekly, Lankesh Patrike.

Lankesh, the activist and anti-establishment voice, was shot dead outside her home in Bangalore on Sept.5 by attackers who fired seven times at close range. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) strongly condemned the cowardly murder.

Attackers fired at her as she stepped out of her car and opened the gates. Four bullets hit her. Police suspect the role of hired.

The murder of the 55-year-old editor brave journalist who fought the forces of evil, hatred and corruption follows other crimes of hatred of recent times: the murders of Sahitya, Academy Award winner and writer M. M. Kalburgi in Dharwad, scholar Govind Pansare in Kohlapur, scholar Narendra Dabholkar in Pune, the mob lynchings by Gau Rakshaks in the name of protecting cows, political killings in Kerala and other such hate crimes.

"This hatred cannot build a New India. We need love, peace and harmony and we appeal to all leaders, peoples, communities and persons in our beloved India to shun the ideologies of hatred. Let our traditional values of peace, harmony, brotherhood and tolerance prevail at all cost. Let us isolate the forces of hatred and cutting across the political, social and religious spectrum unite to build a free, democratic, secular and progressive India," said CBCI in its statement.

"This murder comes even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told the nation in his Independence day speech, 'Violence has no place in free India.' We join our voices to his and to the voice of Civil Society and we unify our hearts to the hearts of all those fighting hatred, caste, regional or religious bigotry and fundamentalism," it added.