Jungle Raj: Outlook’s Chronicle of Violence, Justice and Resistance

In 2012, Outlook had nearly put its annual year-end special issue to bed and the staff was preparing for the weeklong Christmas break, when the conscience of the nation was broken by the brutal gangrape of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student in a moving bus in cold Delhi.

The magazine decided to scrap the planned year-end issue and dedicate it to the brave girl who fought till the end. The Nirbhaya case brought in changes in the law and the punishment for rape became stringent. But sadly, that hasn’t stopped crime against women.

And Delhi’s infamy as the crime capital, which perhaps began with the Billa and Ranga case (the two thugs kidnapped and murdered the siblings Geeta and Sanjay Chopra in 1978) and carried on with the Jessica Lal murder, where Lal was shot dead for refusing to serve a drink to the killer Manu Sharma, a Haryana politician’s son, and affirmed with the double murder of 13-year-old Aarushi Talwar and the family’s servant Hemraj Banjade in the city’s suburb, Noida.

But crime went beyond Delhi. Outlook’s investigations into the Mumbai mafia world led to many breakthroughs in dismantling the dreaded Dawood network. The magazine has tirelessly reported on crime, whether the shameful rape and murder of an eight-year-old innocent girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir or the heinous murder of a young doctor in Kolkata.

Red Earth, Sky Dalit Blue: On September 14, 2020, the nation woke up to the shocking news of a 19-year-old Dalit woman gang-raped and brutally injured in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. She breathed her last fifteen days later. She wasn’t the first and perhaps won’t be the last in a deeply divided country against Dalits. An Outlook cover story

The Endless Night: On August, 9, 2024, the bloodied body of a 31-year-old trainee doctor was discovered in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. The September 1 issue of Outlook captured the anger of the nation in a photo story

Raptors of Hatred: Every day, we live with bits of violence—rapes, rioting and lynchings reported regularly. Then something like Kathua appens, shattering the normal, revealing the amount of hatred around. The Outlook cover story explored how an eight-year-old’s gory end took J&K’s ruling coalition to the brink and back

Unspeakable Memories: Outlook’s September 11, 2024, issue was an act of remembrance. Our reporters and photographers went to as many sites of rapes and murders as we could manage to. Because the act of remembrance is resistance

“Psycho killers”: In its January 22, 2007, issue, Outlook traced the gruesome story of the alleged ruthless butchering of 23 children by Noida businessman Moninder Singh Pandher and his servant Surinder Koli and the political fallout of the crime in UP. Both are free men now

Murky Truths: Illegal quarrying, extremist groups, shady emissaries—the kidnap drama of Kannada film star Rajkumar revealed an unholy nexus. Outlook followed the story—from his kidnapping to his release by forest brigand Veerappan on November 15, 2000

Deaf, Mute, Blind: After all those accused in the killing of Jessica Lall were set free, the public outcry forced reinvestigation. In its March 13, 2006, issue, Outlook investigated what led to the shocking perversion of justice in the Jessica Lall case

Novocaine Files: In the early hours of May 16 in 2008, just hours before she was to turn 14, Aarushi Talwar’s life was snuffed out in the most brutal manner. A day later, the body of Talwar’s servant Hemraj Banjade, who initially was the prime suspect, was found on the terrace of Talwar’s flat. The Aarushi-Hemraj case went through many twists and turns and Outlook chased the story

Peace Hunters: In the early years of the 2000s, 160 districts across the country were designated ‘most affected’ by Maoist extremism. The Maoists had deadly weaponry and in 2005, just a year before this cover was published, had claimed as many as 700 lives—more than in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast put together. To check the Naxal menace, as part of the Salwa Judum movement, the state forced Adivasis to take up arms against the Maoists. The results were disastrous, leading to a civil war kind of situation. An Outlook cover story

Ask Nothing: What was the real motive behind the murderous attack on Pramod Mahajan—”BJP's Mr Quick Fix”—by his brother Pravin? Outlook covered the story, which rocked the political corridors, extensively over the years

Inside Report: Dawood Ibrahim fled from India sometime after the 1993 Mumbai bombings. It was believed he moved to Karachi, Pakistan, via Dubai. Outlook’s cover stories explored how he lived like a king in Karachi and ran operations in Bombay and India

Fear Over Tinsel Town: On August 12, 1997, Gulshan Kumar was shot 16 times outside a temple in Mumbai after refusing extortion demands from the D-company. His killing exposed the film industry-underworld nexus. Outlook followed the story in its multiple cover stories

Deadly Ricochets: Outlook cover stories explored the thriving nexus between Bombay’s business community and the underworld, and how the unending gang rivalries held Bombay to ransom

This article appeared as Jungle Raj in Outlook’s January 01, 2026, issue '30 years of Irreverence' which commemorates the magazine's 30 years of journalism. From its earliest days of irreverence to its present-day transformation, the magazine has weathered controversy, crisis, and change.