At least let Aarushi’s soul rest in peace
For the last one month or so the nation has been gripped by the murder mystery of Aarushi Talwar. Thanks to the media and its constant overdose of information with the tag of ‘Breaking News’, it has made Aarushi Talwar, Rajesh Talwar, Hemraj and Krishna household names. Be it early morning, midday or late night, the television media has been eager to make us believe that the case is finally on the verge of getting solved, only to be proved in the next few days that all those prophecies were wrong again. But the real question is why today an average urban or suburban Indian is so engrossed in this murder mystery? Does he take the same interest in probably every murder or incident of crime that takes place in the country? Well it could have been true for a Finland or a Luxembourg but not for a country where rape takes place every half an hour and a woman is killed every 75 minutes. In the past one month itself, a plethora of such crimes have taken place but not many of us talk about them with impunity as one probably does on the Aarushi murder case. The Aarushi case is no unique but its recall in the mind of the average Indian is high because it has been sensationalised. Right from the beginning, not only the Noida Police was eager to make all believe that it was a plain and simple case of a servant running away with valuables after murdering a family member who came to know about it, only to realise that the servant himself has been killed. And then because of the constant hounding of the media, even before a proper investigation was done, the Noida Police top brass was eager to give press conferences and telling to the world that the case has been solved and that it was a case of honour killing and that Aarushi was killed in rage by her father etc etc. A few weeks down the line much of that has been proven wrong by the CBI. And now the news channels in their quest to make the gullible audience believe that they have an extensive network to get even insider information from the CBI, and thereby increasing their TRP, is constantly cooking up newer theories and possibilities. The role of the media was appreciated when the Jessica Lal case or the Priyadarshini Mattoo case was finally given justice but in their quest to encash on such issues, today all that is happening is sensationalisation and hampering of the real investigation. Worse, some television production houses were trying to encash on it by having an Aarushi murder like incident punched in one of their soap operas (Sic!!!). Aarushi case also throws light on the extent of rot in the state policing system and the desperate need of a central law enforcement agency that should be mandated to take any case which remains unsolved for a week.
The mishandling of the Aarushi case both by the investigating agencies as well as the media should be an eye opener for all. And of course, none should be allowed to encash on such disasters. It is important to make sure that in their quest to sensationalise one Aarushi case the hundreds of such Aarushis, whose stories never get told or for whom the media never puts pressure on police, should not be forgotten. At the end of the day Aarushi was just another Indian teenager who faced a brutal and premature death which she didn't deserve. But just for the sake of TRP, does it make sense to torment her soul everyday?
For the last one month or so the nation has been gripped by the murder mystery of Aarushi Talwar. Thanks to the media and its constant overdose of information with the tag of ‘Breaking News’, it has made Aarushi Talwar, Rajesh Talwar, Hemraj and Krishna household names. Be it early morning, midday or late night, the television media has been eager to make us believe that the case is finally on the verge of getting solved, only to be proved in the next few days that all those prophecies were wrong again. But the real question is why today an average urban or suburban Indian is so engrossed in this murder mystery? Does he take the same interest in probably every murder or incident of crime that takes place in the country? Well it could have been true for a Finland or a Luxembourg but not for a country where rape takes place every half an hour and a woman is killed every 75 minutes. In the past one month itself, a plethora of such crimes have taken place but not many of us talk about them with impunity as one probably does on the Aarushi murder case. The Aarushi case is no unique but its recall in the mind of the average Indian is high because it has been sensationalised. Right from the beginning, not only the Noida Police was eager to make all believe that it was a plain and simple case of a servant running away with valuables after murdering a family member who came to know about it, only to realise that the servant himself has been killed. And then because of the constant hounding of the media, even before a proper investigation was done, the Noida Police top brass was eager to give press conferences and telling to the world that the case has been solved and that it was a case of honour killing and that Aarushi was killed in rage by her father etc etc. A few weeks down the line much of that has been proven wrong by the CBI. And now the news channels in their quest to make the gullible audience believe that they have an extensive network to get even insider information from the CBI, and thereby increasing their TRP, is constantly cooking up newer theories and possibilities. The role of the media was appreciated when the Jessica Lal case or the Priyadarshini Mattoo case was finally given justice but in their quest to encash on such issues, today all that is happening is sensationalisation and hampering of the real investigation. Worse, some television production houses were trying to encash on it by having an Aarushi murder like incident punched in one of their soap operas (Sic!!!). Aarushi case also throws light on the extent of rot in the state policing system and the desperate need of a central law enforcement agency that should be mandated to take any case which remains unsolved for a week.
The mishandling of the Aarushi case both by the investigating agencies as well as the media should be an eye opener for all. And of course, none should be allowed to encash on such disasters. It is important to make sure that in their quest to sensationalise one Aarushi case the hundreds of such Aarushis, whose stories never get told or for whom the media never puts pressure on police, should not be forgotten. At the end of the day Aarushi was just another Indian teenager who faced a brutal and premature death which she didn't deserve. But just for the sake of TRP, does it make sense to torment her soul everyday?
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