Veteran journalist Vinod Dua dies at 67

Veteran journalist Vinod Dua passed away Saturday after a prolonged illness following a Covid-19 infection. He was 67.

He had been admitted to a hospital in Delhi and was in a critical condition. In June, this year, his wife Dr Padmavati Dua passed away after the couple contracted Covid-19 and had to be hospitalised. He is survived by two daughters.

"Our irreverent, fearless and extraordinary father, Vinod Dua has passed away. He lived an inimitable life, rising from the refugee colonies of Delhi to the peak of journalistic excellence for over 42 years, always, always speaking truth to power," his younger daughter Mallika Dua wrote as she confirmed the new of his death.

Dua was born to migrant parents who had come to India from Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the partition in 1947.

In his journalistic career spanning decades, Vinod Dua worked with Doordarshan, NDTV, TV Today and Zee News. Later in his career, he also worked with digital news outlets like The Wire and HW News.

In 1985, he began anchoring 'Janvani', a landmark show which offered a platform to citizens to ask questions to ministers about their policies.

In 1996, he became the first electronic media journalist to be awarded the Ramnath Goenka Award. He received the Padma Shri in 2008.