Photojournalists do a difficult, and often thankless job. They document the reality and hand the pictures to publications, knowing fully well that a lot of people won’t look at the credits.

They do what they do because they are committed, they do it because it’s their duty, they do it because it’s important. 

Danish Siddique was a man driven by these values. 

He went to war zones to document conflicts, covered the pandemic in India, took pictures of a dangerous armed man standing a few feet away from him during the anti-CAA protests in New Delhi. 

He showed us what it means to be driven out of your home, what it means to be a refugee.

And when the entire media was busy solving the mystery of how Rhea Chakraborty procured weed, he was the one taking pictures of people suffering because of the virus, even when it was not in their bodies.

Danish’s death has taken a hero from among us, and while this loss can never be overcome, we can all come together to honour him. 

Turns out, that’s too big an expectation. Some people, actually many, seem to think that it is his “karma” that led to his demise. 

That he “paid for” the ‘sin’ of showing things the way they happened. The government failed its citizens on every front during the pandemic, leading to deaths of thousands of people every day for months. But somehow, it’s Danish’s fault for showing it.

Danish was always respectful towards the dead and the ones mourning them. He did not cross any boundaries. As for the pictures of the pyres, they were necessary. Stuck inside their houses, the people of India would have never gotten a true perspective of how bad the state negligence actually was.

He did his job, and he did it well. He put himself at risk for all of us. Danish passes away as a hero.