Dr. Pradeep Kumar Singh
The democratic set-up of India follows the rule of law. Also, the law takes its own action. However, normally the legal action in criminal cases against women is not awaited. Therefore, sometimes these incidents become the centre of attraction as an opportunity in disaster for the media and politicians belonging to non-ruling parties. It has been observed that three components – the media, the politicians, and the protesting crowd, play a significant role in these cases to pressurize the Government. It is only the collective role of these three that makes the women-centric criminal incidents high-profile, otherwise these remain neglected. When all three become active, the fourth component social media manifests itself. Sometimes the fifth component represented by intellectual class also joins group to avail media coverage by organizing candle-march, silent procession etc.
The Nirbhaya (gang rape and murder) case of December 2012 was given special importance by the media, protesting crowd and politicians. Even after the Supreme Court confirmed the death penalty to the convicts, a news channel launched a miss-call campaign to hang the culprits at the earliest. In addition, it also provided a platform to Nirbhaya’s mother to urge the audience to join the campaign.
All the tragic incidents such as the kidnapping, gang-rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in Kathua, Jammu in January-2018, the gang-rape and murder of a 26-year-old female vet near Hyderabad in November-2019, and the gang-rape and murder of a 19-year-old girl near Hathras in September-2020 etc. have been of high-profile category. In these cases, the media and the protesting gang put immense pressure on the governments. In the Kathua case, a female lawyer availed significant media coverage and professional recognition by making promise to plead the case for free for the victim. Similarly, in the Hathras incident, many media personnel themselves appeared promising to strive for justice to the victim.
Undoubtedly, reforms have also taken place as a result of criticism through media coverage of protests against the criminal cases against women. Enactment of strict laws by the Parliament after the Nirbhaya case, setting-up fast-track courts by Governments to speed up the judicial process in crimes, and implementation of many other important steps to ensure safety & security of women, etc. are the significant few ones.
However, the media has often been observed to present selective reporting, based on the assessment of professional loss or gain, on the basis of casteism, communalism, and politics involved in the issues. This is inappropriate and can be fatal to society in the long run. Many tragic incidents, such as, the gang-rape and murder of a 10-year-old (divyang) girl in Jaipur (Raj.) in May-2020, the gang-rape and murder of a 22-year-old woman in Balrampur (U.P.) in September-2020, the gang rape and viral video in social media of a 45-year-old woman in Alwar (Raj.) in September-2020, the gang-rape (over a period of 4-year) of a 19-year-old girl in Udaipur reported in October-2020, etc. could neither get the due media coverage, nor could get the support of the protesting gang. This shows the partial character of the nexus between the media and the protesting gang.
One similar tragic case has been the murder of Nikita Tomar, a 21-year-old student of B.Com. in Ballabhgarh, Faridabad (Haryana) on 26-October last year. At about 4-pm in the evening, two young men Tausif and Rehan tried to kidnap her, while she was coming out of the college after examination. Tausif shot at her when she protested. The accused had allegedly been pressurizing Nikita to get married, and had attempted kidnapping earlier too. Most media houses did not show enthusiasm in giving coverage to this love-jihad case, but a few channels did report the heart-breaking incident boldly and also questioned the silence of the media fraternity, politicians and so-called secularists.
The justice is not concerned only with the judiciary, it is important at every level of society. The media did not show the expected interest in the Nikita murder case. Leaders of most non-ruling political parties also remained silent. It is important to note that when there is a conflict between right and wrong (i.e. Dharma & Adharma), silence (or silent support to Adharma) is not appropriate for the responsible and competent institutions. Lord Krishna himself has enlightened the society by becoming the charioteer of Arjuna in the war of Mahabharata. Nikita’s killer is the son of a politically influential family. Perhaps that is why most non-ruling political parties did not comment on the matter to suit to their political objectives.
Nikita Tomar, the daughter of an ordinary family, had to make sacrifice, protesting the abduction for the sake of self-esteem, culture and family honour. The incident is an indicator of criminal tendency and forced communal conversion in the form of love-jihad, growing in independent India. Political parties were expected to rise above party interests and raise their voice against this murder, and fight for justice for the daughter of the country, but this did not happen.
It is a matter of satisfaction that the Government and the police administration handled the responsibility sincerely. The fast-track court delivered the judgement on 26-March. The main accused Tausif and his friend Rehan have been convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment, while the third accused Azaharuddin got acquitted for want of evidence.
Nikita’s parents are not satisfied with the court’s decision. They have been in favour of the death penalty for the culprits. Definitely, killing a young woman for love-jihad would be considered a heinous crime in society. Only the aggrieved family can experience the anguish. Culprits do not deserve sympathy at all. Thus, Nikita’s parents can appeal against the decision in the High Court. That is, the struggle for justice may continue.
(The author is Professor and Former Dean (Research & Consultancy) Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering & Technology, Longowal)
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