Slain photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was laid to rest at the Jamia Millia Islamia graveyard on Sunday night, where a sea of mourners had gathered.
Siddiqui’s mortal remains were brought to India on Sunday evening by an Air India flight from Afghanistan, where the photojournalist was killed while on assignment.
A large crowd of family members and friends had gathered at his Jamia Nagar residence, from where the body was taken to the university campus for burial around 10.15pm.
“Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) Vice Chancellor accepted the request of the family of late photojournalist Danish Siddiqui to bury his body at the JMI graveyard meant exclusively for university employees, their spouses and minor child,” the university had said in a statement earlier in the day.
Siddiqui had done his master’s from Jamia Millia Islamia. His father Akhtar Siddiqui was the dean of the faculty of education there. Siddiqui had studied at A.J.K. Mass Communication Research Centre at Jamia from 2005 to 2007.
The officiating director of A.J.K. Mass Communication Research Centre (MCRC) said: “Danish was one of the brightest stars in our hall of fame and a proactive alumnus who kept returning to his alma mater to share with students his work and experiences. We will miss him deeply but are determined to keep his memory alive.”
Professor Sabeena Gadihoke said his photographs were hard-hitting but he never compromised on the dignity of those within his frames.
“Danish had the unique ability to bestow a journalistic picture with empathy and to give dignity and grace to his subjects,” she added.
In 2018, Siddiqui was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by MCRC. During the ceremony, he described being a photojournalist as both an honour and a responsibility to bear witness for those who could not speak for themselves, in the hope that he could make a change for the better, the JTA said.
JTA president Professor Majid Jamil described his death as a big loss to journalism and the Jamia community.
Siddiqui, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018, worked for Reuters.
