Remembering Danish Siddiqui: The Indian journalist, killed in Afghanistan, is honoured with a top award!

India remembers Danish Siddiqui with a top glory for honouring his contribution towards journalism. Siddiqui was killed in Afghanistan in July 2021 while he was courageously covering the Taliban takeover of the uncertain nation. He was 38 when he died and has left an influencing legacy through his powerful photos. Siddiqui was a photojournalist working with Reuters for several years and he is also a laureate of the Pulitzer Prize, which is a global honour for journalism.

His demise had startled the media fraternity and reminisced the fact that he was a true brave heart for journalism. Honouring him for his contribution, the Mumbai Press Club has conferred him with top glory. On Wednesday- December 28, the Mumbai Press Club has posthumously awarded Siddiqui the 'Journalist of the Year' award for 2020. In a virtual event, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana has bestowed the award to the deceased journalist. 

Justice Ramana gave a powerful citation while describing Siddiqui, which had shown how the former had admired the latter. Justice Ramana has presented the prestigious award to Siddiqui for his spectrum of investigative and impactful news photography. While remembering the journalist, Justice Ramana said, "He was a man with a magical eye and was rightly regarded as one of the foremost photojournalists of this era. If a picture can tell a thousand words, his photos were novels." 

Danish Siddiqui's wife Frederike Siddiqui had received the award and besides honouring Siddiqui, Justice Ramana had awarded the lifetime achievement award for 83-year-old senior journalist Prem Shankar Jha for his long and distinguished career of incisive and analytical writing. While congratulating Jha, Justice Ramana said, "His reputation for hard work, the highest ethical standards, and intellectual rigour are unparalleled in the field." 

The Annual RedInk Awards for Excellence in Journalism is instituted by the Mumbai Press Club and it was formed a decade ago to recognize good investigative and feature writing, and raise the bar of journalism in the country. According to PTI, apart from Siddiqui and Jha, various other journalists were awarded in 12 categories as part of the 10th edition of the award event. 

Danish Siddiqui was with Reuters for a decade and has photographed what had made national and even global headlines. His eyes had covered the refugee crisis, the migrant crisis in India that was triggered by the Covid-19 lockdown and his photos of burning dead bodies, that were demised of Covid-19, in Delhi had shakened the whole world and displayed how India has got devasted by the waves of the pandemic. Siddiqui is believed to have been killed by the Taliban while he was covering the Afghanistan crisis and several journalists who worked with him remembered him as a dedicated and brave journalist. 

 

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