A year after Gauri Lankesh's death, her newsroom comes alive again with 'Nyaya Patha'

The final edition of the Gauri Lankesh Patrike, edited by Gauri Lankesh, was compiled on September 5, 2017. That night, Gauri was shot dead by assailants outside her home in Bengaluru. Her death sent shockwaves across the country, and her murder is still being probed. Her passing also saw the newspaper shutting down its operations.

Now, a year later, the newsroom is bustling again and the first edition of the newly launched newspaper 'Nyaya Patha' hit the newsstands on the day of Gauri's first death anniversary.

The special edition, with a picture of Gauri on the cover, includes articles written by contributors and has also reproduced a speech delivered by the slain editor at a literary meet in Shivamogga in 2006.

The launch of the newspaper comes after a tumultuous year for the staff members of ‘Gauri Lankesh Patrike'. The group first published an edition in memory of Gauri Lankesh on September 20, 2017, before shutting down operations for the next six months.

The newsroom was revived earlier this year in April after the staff launched ‘Naanu Gauri (I am Gauri)', a newspaper which was available for paid subscribers.

Editions of 'Naanu Gauri'  | Photograph Courtesy: Dhruv Khanna

"The paper is yet to be registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI). We had submitted an application with the name of the newspaper 'Naanu Gauri', but it was rejected multiple times. We were not given any explanation," says Girish Talikatt, a member of staff at the newspaper.

Twenty-one issues of 'Naanu Gauri' were published between April and August, covering a variety of topics, including the Karnataka election, the farmer agitation in Karnataka, student protests against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and the investigation into the alleged communal death of a cattle trader in Udupi.

Girish Talikatt, staff member at the Gauri Lankesh Patrike | Photograph Courtesy: Dhruv Khanna

The newspaper however was only available for private circulation and was then renamed as 'Nyaya Patha' after Ashok Murthy, an associate of Gauri Lankesh, gave permission that they could use the name of the newspaper that he used to publish.

Read: 'Naanu Gauri’: Voice of slain journo reverberates in newly launched paper

'Nyaya Patha' was launched in Bengaluru on Wednesday and hopes to keep the causes Gauri Lankesh worked for in her lifetime, alive. A group of writers, activists and professors, who previously contributed to the Gauri Lankesh Patrike, have pledged to come forward and contribute to the newly launched paper. "We are hoping to continue publishing the newspaper and give space to topics that Gauri would," adds Girish.