Weekly magazine 'The Week' and Varun Bhatt of Hindi daily Rajasthan Patrika have been jointly awarded the prestigious IPI India award for outstanding work in journalism during 2015.
'The Week' has been selected for the award for an exclusive interview and an accompanying article by Rabi Banerjee through which the magazine explained in detail the hitherto unknown details of the life and struggles of Manipuri human rights activist Irom Sharmila.
The report highlighted for the first time several little- known aspects of Sharmila's crusade for human rights, and of her 16-year-old fast demanding lifting of the AFSPA.
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The interview also brought out for the first time the fact that she wanted to give up her prolonged fast and take to political work, the Indian Chapter of the International Press Institute said in a release.
Sharmila had ended her fast, said to be world's longest, on August 9 and plans to join politics.
Bhatt has been awarded for his investigative report exposing the apathy and negligence of the authorities in fulfilling promises to build a memorial for 1500 tribals, killed during freedom struggle in Mangadh.
Mangadh is called the Jalianwalabagh of Rajasthan.
Bhatt traced the original papers with the central government, wrote a series of articles on how the memorial has been stalled and once the work resumed, kept a track of it.
The award, which carries a cash prize of Rs one lakh, a trophy and a citation for each of the winners, will be given presented at a function here next month.
A distinguished jury of Editors and Publishers headed by Justice AS Anand, former Chief Justice of India and former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, chose the awardees.
IPI India had instituted the annual award in 2003 to recognise and honour the best work done by an Indian media organisation or journalist working in print, radio, television and Internet mediums, in furtherance of public interest, including safeguarding of freedom of the press and other freedoms such as human rights.
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