For its sustained investigation into the Malegaon and Modasa blasts last year that exposed the hand of a fringe ultra-right organisation, The Indian Express has won the IPI India Award for Excellence in Journalism, 2009. It shares the award with Bidisha Goshal of The Week for her reports on the exploitation of the widows of farmers in Maharashtra. On October 22, 2008, The Indian Express’s Mumbai-based reporter Smita Nair broke the story that police investigations had found Hindu militant groups behind the bomb blasts in Modasa and Malegaon. In the following months, Express reporters – Smita Nair, Chandan Haygunde, Kamal Saiyed, Manu Pubby, Milind Ghatwai, Vikram Rautela and Sagnik Chowdhury – stayed resolutely on the story, joining the dots of the terror plot.
“The Indian Express was selected for its sustained investigation into the involvement of a Hindu extremist group behind the Malegaon and Modasa terror attacks. The newspaper was the first to report that the police had identified the group involved. The newspaper joined the dots of a bizarre plot with a strange cast of characters,” the IPI India statement said.
The entries for the 2009 Award were judged by a jury of editors and publishers headed by Justice Dr A S Anand, former CJI. Members of the jury included N. Ravi, chairman, IPI-India and editor, The Hindu; Philip Mathew, fellow, IPI, Vienna, and managing editor, Malayala Manorama; M K Razdan, editor-in-chief, PTI, and T N Ninan, editor-in-chief, Business Standard. The award, that carries a trophy, a citation and Rs 1 lakh, will be presented in New Delhi in December.