Gauri Lankesh posthumously honoured with Anna Politkovskaya international award

News Network
October 5, 2017

Bengaluru, Oct 5: Journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead by unknown assailants on September 5, has been posthumously accorded with the prestigious Anna Politkovskaya Award, instituted by Reach All Women (RAW) in War.

RAW, in a statement, said that it was honoured to award the annual Anna Politkovskaya Award for women human rights defenders from war and conflict zones jointly to Gauri Lankesh posthumously, and to a brave Pakistani activist Gulalai Ismaial, who similarly is fighting against Islamic extremism. Ms. Ismail has faced the death threats for speaking out against the Taliban in north-west Pakistan.

Gauri is the 12th woman to receive this prestigious award. Nominations Committee members have observed that they were deeply moved by Gauri and Gulalai's bravery and dedication to peace and human rights. The citation reads: Gauri Lankesh was a major figure in India, critic of right-wing Hindu extremism, campaigner for women's rights, fiercely opposed to the caste system, campaigning for rights of Dalits and so on.

With mixed feelings, Kavitha Lankesh, Gauri’s sister, told media persons here on Thursday that the Anna Politkovskaya Award was a morale booster for people who want to write and continue to fight against injustice. It was an honour not only for the members of Gauri's family, but also to "huge family" that loved Gauri for her commitment to the cause of secular ideals, justice, equality and women rights. "In fact, the award honours what Gauri stood for throughout her life... that ‘you cannot silence me’,” said a teary-eyed Ms. Kavitha.

The announcement of the award was an emotional one, as Gauri's brother Indrajit Lankesh, mother Indira Lankesh and close friend M.S. Ashadevi struggled to find words to express their feelings on RAW honouring Gauri with this international award.

Gauri was awarded with Periyar Award posthumously by the Thinkers Forum on September 17 in Bengaluru.

Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist was killed in 2006 in Moscow for her courage to speak out on behalf of the suffering of the civilians in the war in Chechnya. "It is not by coincidence that Gauri's work, her personality and the way she was killed for her work reminded us so much of the way Anna lived and died for the truth,” said members of nominations committee.

To mark the anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya's murder on October 7, 2006 and to honour Anna and the women like in the world, RAW in War annually presents the award to a female human rights defender from conflict zone.

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News Network
April 12,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 12: A 10-month-old baby who tested COVID-19 positive on March 27 completed treatment and discharged from hospital on Saturday.

He was the youngest positive case in Karnataka, from Sajipanadu village in Bantwal taluk.

The child had been with his mother to a relative's house at Monetepadau village, situated on the Karnataka-Kerala border in the first week of March.

A few days later the child developed an acute respiratory illness and tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

Treating the breastfeeding child was challenging for doctors as he had to be isolated. A team of doctors from Wenlock Hospital took up this challenge and successfully cured the baby.

Test reports on his mother and grandmother too have returned negative. They too had been under quarantine and were discharged with the baby.

Another positive development was that no COVID-19 case has been reported from the child's village.  

The entire Sajipanadu village was completely sealed after the child tested positive and the district had provided all the necessary supplies to the villagers.

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News Network
March 8,2020

Chikkamagaluru, Mar 8: A 20 member armed gang barged into a farmhouse at Gudde Thota near Jayapura in Koppa taluk and looted valuables and cash worth about Rs 12 lakh after assaulting the inmates, Police said on Sunday.

According to police, the culprits covered their face with masks and after assaulting watchman they broke open the main door and tied up Vijayaraghav and his wife Asha before robbing the valuables.

The culprits took away Rs 2.5 lakh in cash and valuables worth over Rs 10 lakh.

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coastaldigest.com news network
April 24,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 24: The last rites of the elderly woman who died of covid-19 yesterday was finally held in the wee hours of Friday amidst tight security at Kaikunje Hindu Rudra Bhoomi near BC Road bus stand in spite of severe opposition from the members of the own community.

The funeral was held as per the protocol for COVID-19 deaths, police said.

Prior to this hundreds of Hindus had staged a protest  last night in front of Pachanady Hindu Rudra Bhoomi near Vamanjoor following reports that the the 77-year-old coronavirus positive woman's mortal remains will be cremated there.

Mangaluru North MLA Bharat Shetty rushed to the spot and convinced the protesters that he will not allow the authorities to cremate the body at Pachanady. Hence, the authorities shifted the cremation venue, it is learnt. 

Meanwhile, many local residents staged protest at Pachanady against the cremation of the dead body of a coronavirus positive woman. Hence, additional police force was sent from Mangaluru to disperse the crowd and facilitate the last rite.

According to sources, initially the authorities had  planned to cremate body at Baddakatte Hindu Rudra Bhoomi near here native place in Bantwal. However, the locals and the community elders had forced the authorities to change the plan.

Such protests due to misconception about the spread of coronavirus had been witnessed in some other parts of the country, including in Chennai, and the governments have warned of action against those opposing cremation or burial of COVID-19 patients.

So far as many as 17 covid-19 postive cases have been reported in Dakshina Kannada including two deaths from same family from Bantwal's Kasba village.

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