Acquittal by media

Sometimes one hears about trial by media, media going too far and media being judge, jury and executioner. One has not heard about acquittal by media.

Sometimes people in media pronounce someone not guilty when the court has announced him or her guilty. Some years back a British girl in USA was found guilty by jury of a murder of a baby. BBC ran a campaign saying she was not guilty. The judge acquitted her.

Once a Delhi Public School student sent an MMS of his girlfriend having oral sex with him. The boy faced prosecution. Some in media expressed sympathy for the boy saying “Oh, he is just a boy.” No thought was given to the girl whose life he destroyed.

Some days back the judge in a Chhattisgarh court found Binayak Sen guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Many people in media pronounced him not guilty or punishment too harsh. TV channels had one sided discussions with people condemning judgment. The prosecutor who prosecuted the case against Binayak Sen was not seen on any channel. The channels gave publicity to a lawyer who came forward to defend Binayak Sen forgetting that the lawyer does not have a track record of defending innocent people but defending murderers, rapists, molesters and all types of crooks. Once in an interview he could not answer questions by Karan Thapar and left without completing the interview.

On 29/12/2010 CBI filed closure report in Arushi — Hemraj murders case. Since then some channels have pronounced Rajesh Talwar not guilty and carried his interviews. CBI report indicates Rajesh Talwar was murderer but there is not enough evidence to prosecute him. UP police had arrested Rajesh Talwar. When CBI took over he was released. Attempts to frame three servants failed. The case went to another team of CBI. There was talk of subjecting Rajesh Talwar and his wife Nupur Talwar to narcoanalysis test. Then came a judgment of the Supreme Court bench headed by K. G. Balakrishnan that a person’s consent is necessary to make him/her undergo narcoanalysis test. After some months CBI filed for closure report.

Some want justice for Arushi. Nobody talks about justice for Hemraj. Nothing about his parents or family members asking for justice appears on TV. In death as in life, people do not care about him.