What’s Current: Protests erupt in India after the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh

Image: MANJUNATH KIRAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

• Gauri Lankesh, a female journalist and outspoken critic of the ruling party in India, was murdered outside of her home in Bangalore on Tuesday. Protests and rallies erupted in cities and towns across the country on Wednesday. Another Indian journalist, Barkha Dutt, called the murder a “wake-up call”:

“All of us have had experiences, especially as women, of receiving threats and abuse, from rape to murder… I have personally gone in the past to the police, testified in court, and no one was ever able to find the people who threatened me.”

• Whole Woman’s Health is offering free abortion services, including travel and accommodation, to female survivors of Hurricane Harvey whose plans to access abortion were disrupted by the storm.

• A misconduct investigation has been launched against Provincial Court Justice Gregory Lenehan. The misconduct investigation stems from comments Lenehan made in his decision to acquit a taxi driver of sexual assault charges earlier this year, including the statement that “clearly a drunk can consent”

• A Montreal woman had her personal information — including her address and phone number — posted in an online advertisement for prostitution. She filed a police report but says the police told her there is nothing more that they can or will do to track down the person who posted the ad.

Lisa Steacy

Lisa Steacy is an Assistant Editor at Feminist Current. She has a B.A. in Women & Gender Studies from the University of Toronto. However, the women she met in her five years as a frontline worker and collective member with Vancouver Rape Relief & Women’s Shelter deserve almost all of the credit for her feminist education. She lives in Vancouver with her partner and their cats.