I have learnt it the hardest way – if you lose someone’s trust, it is impossibly hard to get back to status quo ante. It is the price you have to pay for that blunder, no matter what your compulsions were. You live it, live with it.
OK, but what if you strip someone’s dignity, most unjustifiably? How big a shameful episode should that be in your life? Can you live with it? Can you live through it? These are the thoughts that crossed my mind when I read the article Return my dignity, man absolved of rape asks SC in Times of India, by Dhananjay Mahapatra, March 11, 2013 [1].
An innocent man had languished in jail for four years just waiting for justice to be delivered. Ironically, when there is a clamor for near-instantaneous justice for rape victims, this is a “heart rending” plea by a man for restoring dignity (to himself) who did not rape, nonetheless was accused and eventually cleared, but has since been raped; his dignity taken away. If you feel like it, you can read the details at the link. I am too disturbed, except to point out the role of the media in this affair.
When the rape happened, the media buzzards swooped down to partake in the carrion dinner, with bands and fireworks – a barat, shall we say. But, when the accused was acquitted, the meat was too stale even for these scavengers. None took notice.
“He did not rape!” with or without the exclamation mark just does not make an eye-catching headline.
The innocent man suffered, along with his family. Not able to take this undeserved humiliation, the man has approached the Supreme Court for some reparation, restoration of his position in society, help in reclaiming his dignity. Does he seek revenge? No. He is magnanimous to a fault – has transferred his absolution to the media and does not hold them responsible for his travails.
He is not for the raw process of litigation, fixing blame etc. (If you think about it, had the protagonist of OMG, Oh My God! taken this route, it would not have been such a wonderful movie!)
What is even more ironic is that this news item, about the innocent appealing to the Supreme Court, is buried in the inside pages, though I admit that a 14 column inch piece may restore some justice, even if not dignity.
As it is not a plea for revenge, against the media, it does not merit front page.
The media does not care that you lose your dignity. Then, media should be stripped of the trust it holds in the name of society.
Tit-for-tat. Revenge. Never mind magnanimity. Is that not the name of the game?
Raghuram Ekambaram
P.S As an aside, would it have been better had the innocent person been condemned to death? After all, it has been argued that arbitrariness is a fact of life – innocents will be put to death. Learn to live with it, even if the innocent is not allowed to.
Raghuram Ekambaram
References
1. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-03-11/india/37622494_1_diagnostic-centre-mayapuri-jail-term
OK, but what if you strip someone’s dignity, most unjustifiably? How big a shameful episode should that be in your life? Can you live with it? Can you live through it? These are the thoughts that crossed my mind when I read the article Return my dignity, man absolved of rape asks SC in Times of India, by Dhananjay Mahapatra, March 11, 2013 [1].
An innocent man had languished in jail for four years just waiting for justice to be delivered. Ironically, when there is a clamor for near-instantaneous justice for rape victims, this is a “heart rending” plea by a man for restoring dignity (to himself) who did not rape, nonetheless was accused and eventually cleared, but has since been raped; his dignity taken away. If you feel like it, you can read the details at the link. I am too disturbed, except to point out the role of the media in this affair.
When the rape happened, the media buzzards swooped down to partake in the carrion dinner, with bands and fireworks – a barat, shall we say. But, when the accused was acquitted, the meat was too stale even for these scavengers. None took notice.
“He did not rape!” with or without the exclamation mark just does not make an eye-catching headline.
The innocent man suffered, along with his family. Not able to take this undeserved humiliation, the man has approached the Supreme Court for some reparation, restoration of his position in society, help in reclaiming his dignity. Does he seek revenge? No. He is magnanimous to a fault – has transferred his absolution to the media and does not hold them responsible for his travails.
He is not for the raw process of litigation, fixing blame etc. (If you think about it, had the protagonist of OMG, Oh My God! taken this route, it would not have been such a wonderful movie!)
What is even more ironic is that this news item, about the innocent appealing to the Supreme Court, is buried in the inside pages, though I admit that a 14 column inch piece may restore some justice, even if not dignity.
As it is not a plea for revenge, against the media, it does not merit front page.
The media does not care that you lose your dignity. Then, media should be stripped of the trust it holds in the name of society.
Tit-for-tat. Revenge. Never mind magnanimity. Is that not the name of the game?
Raghuram Ekambaram
P.S As an aside, would it have been better had the innocent person been condemned to death? After all, it has been argued that arbitrariness is a fact of life – innocents will be put to death. Learn to live with it, even if the innocent is not allowed to.
Raghuram Ekambaram
References
1. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-03-11/india/37622494_1_diagnostic-centre-mayapuri-jail-term
4 comments:
Is the media ever concerned about justice? Isn't its concern merely to sell news? Rape sells, innocence does not. Think of the ISRO scientists in Kerala who were wrongly accused of spying (treason) and imprisoned for years... so many other people who suffer indignity and shame unjustly... Makes one want to believe in fatalism.
"Makes one want to believe in fatalism." - Please do not do. Perhaps things are at an order higher than for the IGNOU affair on which I feel you may have struck a match. But, giving up is not the way to go. I know you won't and I will do so at my own, lower level.
RE
Is it the media or is it the judiciary that does/did not care about the dignity of the petitioner?
Of course, if the petitioner had raised a plea against the latter, it would have been thrown out, I guess.
I see it as a charge against the media, Arjun. The judiciary seems to have worked at its own glacial speed. The charge in this case is that there was a severe asymmetry between how the incident was covered and the not-guilty verdict was ignored by the media.
By the way, the plea is not against the media. It is to the judiciary to suggest how his dignity could be restored. It is the bench that has asked a number of newspapers to respond.
RE
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