India: Severe frustration and domestic reasons provoke journalist to commit suicide

The Coalition For Women In Journalism is devastated to learn about Nisha PatilPise’s sudden death, caused by self harm and we extend our condolences to her family for this irreplaceable loss.

The journalist, who was the president of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Women’s Patrakar Sangh — a city-based women journalist group in India — and a sub-editor, committed suicide at her residence, as told by the police. Her husband Prashant Pandurang-Pise has been taken into custody after an official complaint was filed by her brother Mahesh Shingote. We urge the local police at Pimpri-Chinchwad to thoroughly investigate Nisha’s case and get to the core of the reason behind her suicide.

According to reports, the police has recovered a handwritten suicide note which mentioned that severe frustration and domestic reasons provoked Nisha to take the extreme action. The note read, “No one is responsible for my suicide, I have taught a lesson to whom I wanted to,” the note read.

Nisha worked at Dainik Prabhat, a Marathi-language newspaper. It is reported that the journalist had locked herself in her room after arriving from work at night and did not step out. The police has filed a case of suicide and accidental death.

We, at the CFWIJ, find it extremely distressing that our colleague was under immense mental stress that led her to take her own life. One can hardly imagine what Nisha was subjected to while she was still alive. Women journalists, especially those living in patriarchal South Asian countries, suffer from severe mental stress due to domestic issues. Despite the nature of her death was relatively different, we hope to not witness more of such cases and urge Indian authorities and the local police to probe Nisha’s suicide.

In the summer 2018, one of our friends, a former Pakistani model who had transitioned into journalism had commited suicide. Annie Ali Khan, was born and raised in Pakistan, and after many successful years of modeling in Pakistan, she had decided to pursue journalism because she believed in the power of storytelling. In July 2018, Annie was found dead in an apartment which had caught fire. The police investigation indicated the intentions of suicide. We are still sad about Annie’s death, and remember her work as a journalist.

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The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world, and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.

For more information please visit www.womeninjournalism.org.

Press Inquiries: press@womeninjournalism.org

Turkey & MENA Coordinator: damla@womeninjournalism.org.