Another Journalist Murdered in Cold Blood – Irfan Hussain

Born on January 29, 1964, Irfan Hussain was a cartoonist for the Outlook magazine. He was murdered by politically motivated people, but the court acquitted all suspects because of insufficient evidence

Hussain's cartoons were satirical in nature (Dated - September 14, 1998); Source: Outlook India

Irfan Hussain was a cartoonist for the Outlook magazine, who was born on January 29, 1964, in Nagpur, Maharashtra. His unfortunate story was one that shocked journalists nationwide and heightened the sense of urgency towards journalists’ safety and the barriers to the freedom of expression in India.

Hussain worked as a senior cartoonist for Outlook magazine – he drew political caricatures which were often satirical in nature. Like most journalist assassinations, this was precisely what got Irfan Hussain into trouble with a few politically involved people. In March 1999, Irfan’s wife, Munira, filed a report when the former went missing and never returned home after an outing to the Press Club. There were no signs of his whereabouts at all. A few days later, another cartoonist at the National Herald received an anonymous call confirming the death of Hussain, and warning him of the death of fellow cartoonist Sudhir Tailang.

The remains of Irfan Hussain’s body were found five days after his wife had first filed the report. The corpse had been disfigured horrendously; it was the shoes that were recognised as Hussain’s belongings by his colleague.

The body had been stabbed, strangled, tortured and slit at the throat. The narrative imagery of Hussain’s remains in itself jolted the journalist community.

The investigative team claimed to have traced Hussain’s missing belongings to Panipat, Haryana. In December, five suspects who had originally been arrested for auto-theft were taken into custody for further trial and investigation into the murder of Hussain. However, the final verdict acquitted the five accused from all charges, on account of insufficient evidence. Although Irfan Hussain’s family raised an appeal for re-investigation, no further progress was made into the case.

The anonymity of the murderers was attributed to inefficiency on part of the investigative team responsible for insufficient evidence. The unfortunate tragedy of Irfan Hussain’s death was unnecessarily prolonged by judicial mechanisms that failed to provide his family with the justice they deserved.