Editorial: Bangalore’s police, media and educators have shown themselves at their worst in the past days, appearing intent to keep slinging mud on a law school student who was allegedly the victim of a violent sex crime.
Yesterday Bangalore University (BU) threatened to evict NLSIU Bangalore from its campus that is located on BU’s property, continuing the cycle of ‘victim blaming’ by police and the media, after an NLSIU student was allegedly raped in the BU Jnanabharathi campus forest area that adjoins NLSIU campus last Saturday.
BU has issued a circular as a “warning” to NLSIU that it could face eviction from the land, reported DNA. BU’s registrar BC Mylarappa told the paper: “If they do not correct themselves or continue to fail to keep their students under control, we will consider withdrawing our land provided to NLSIU… We are fed up with the way the students of NLSIU are behaving and also about the bad name our campus is getting because of them. We will not tolerate this anymore and will issue an official notice.” [DNA]
How about you stop tolerating that a rape allegedly took place on your grounds, rather than blaming students for ‘bad behaviour’. Sadly, for the college this approach appears to be easier than acknowledging that it failed to keep its own back garden safe and something terrible appears to have happened on their watch.
That’s not all. Several papers on Monday and yesterday reported an unnamed police source’s speculations that there may be “loop holes” in the case, before a medical report or the investigation was even completed. So, basically the police admit that they have no real idea yet, are just piecing together the evidence but one cop anonymously alleges that he thinks there are gaps in the victim’s story, and the newspapers think it’s a good idea to publish that?
If that wasn’t bad enough, papers choose to ramp this up in their headlines. DNA yesterday ran with “Law student’s rape plaint may be fake, suspect police” as the Deccan Herald’s continued the theme with *“*Gang-rape may have been stage-managed, say police”, with apparently no more evidence than one anonymous cop’s conjecture.
Today, the TOI kept the story going with the campus rape taking a “mystery turn”, with the Times News Network-bylined article describing the alleged victim’s dress as she walked into a police station and writing about biscuit packets. No, unfortunately we’re not making this up. [TOI]
This same apparent editorial bias against women has defined the coverage of several papers right from the get go in this case.
The alleged victim’s complaint goes that she was out with her male friend, who works in an IT major in Bangalore, on Saturday night at around 10 pm when the two were allegedly attacked by up to eight local drunk men who robbed them, hit her friend’s face, and then abducted and raped her. [TOI / DNA]
However, already on Sunday the local police were reportedly quick to play down the allegations citing an absence of injury marks on the victim’s body, despite no full medical examination results having been made available yet. Already then, Deccan Herald and The Hindu were faithfully re-reporting the police’s and other’s victim blaming mindset.
The Hindu wrote:
“Sources at the hospital said that though the girl claimed that she was raped, preliminary examination revealed the girl had no external injuries like the ones usually found on rape victim.
“Upon inspecting the scene of assault, the police said that the spot was covered with bushes and thorns which could have severely injured her body if she was gang-raped. However, there were no visible signs of injuries on her body, said the police and added that they would be able to ascertain if it was a case of rape only after details of the medical report arrive.”
So, what looks like a snap judgment of anonymous “sources at the hospital” and unnamed policemen shooting their mouth off about thorniness, is apparently good enough to include in a national newspaper.
In this entire episode, the behaviour of media and police, and now of Bangalore University too, has been beneath contempt.
No matter what the facts are in this case, how can other women and men be expected to come forward with allegations of sex crime if the police, media and even educators start throwing the blame back at them in so many words before the case has even been investigated?
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Comments
more over the insensitive comments and speculations about the truth of the story , why are these a** h***s giving sweeping comments that girl might be wrong .....
@aparatbar on Twitter added the following regarding PCI complaints: "jurisdictionally, one has to first write to the concerned editor of the newspaper to start the PCI process."
Might be a good idea to do that too? Please keep us posted about progress. Good luck!
Thank you for not treating this matter as another "news" story, but as a point for reflection on broader concerns with the investigation and reporting of sexual assault cases. Yours is a much needed voice of sanity in the cacophony surrounding the extremely distressing events. Thanks again.
We thereforewon't be publishing any further replies to #3 (in fact we perhaps should not have published #3 in the first place), but please feel free to continue commenting on the salient issues.
What these papers have done, apparently, is recycle an unnamed cop's hunches and stuck that in the headline, seemingly desperate to get a new angle on a story where nothing new has happened.
If an accused were treated that way during a trial, it would give grounds to claiming contempt of court.
The question is "what if".
The situation till now is that something such has actually happened. If its found to be wrong, she is definitely liable to be prosecuted under law!
If you file against the news outlets they will likely produce the source in their defense, and then that source can be pursued.
Karnataka is a wonderful state filled with great people. However, from Justice Bhaktavatsala to the cops to the media in Karnataka there seems to be some sort of war on women in certain quarters.
This sort of thing might be expected from a khap panchayat in a backward area, not from the state of Khanaka Dasa and Sri Raghavendra Swamiji of Malladihalli. (look 'em up if you must).
A lot of thinking needs to be done. The most obvious is why the police, media and hangers did so many flip flops and made a joke of themselves. Thats the easy part because its obvious.
But IMHO, this incident brings up the question as to whether the indiscipline at NLS is attracting all these unsavoury characters into the vicinity and making it unsafe. The present administration has turned a blind eye to the all the nonsense that happens on and off campus. There's not even a pretense of enforcing any rules. Look at the IITs. Today ragging which was notorious in the 80s and 90s has been virtually eradicated.
The place where this assault took place is remote, dark and uninhabited. Frankly its a scary area after sundown. I think its important to understand why an educated law student would want to be at a place like that at nearly midnight. Otherwise its only a matter of time before something horrible happens again.
That BU registrar clearly is off his rocker when he threatens to evict NLS. My guess is that somewhere he might have a point. Theres a certain perception about NLS today that is disturbing and it exists for a reason. The police, courts and journos can be reined in. But thats only half the battle. The univ has to make an effort too.
Even a "troll" advocate should consider his arguments carefully. My guess - you're sitting for your third try at the AIBE in November?
Even a "troll" advocate should consider his arguments carefully. My guess - you're sitting for your third try at the AIBE in November?[/quote]
You're not very clever, are you? How can crime be eradicated? One option is to post a policeman every 200 metres all over the country. Another option is for people to take precautions so that the likelihood of occurrence reduces. Don't need an einstein to figure which is more easy to achieve. Just elonquent waxing on LI will do nothing to improve the situation. Neither will lame sarcasm about my attempts at AIBE.
When was the last time there was a murder trial or a theft to which one can use the "s/he was at an isolated place, it was only expected ideal"? Rape or any form of sexual assault is not treated with enough seriousness in the country, which is why this is so rampant.
The place where this assault took place is remote, dark and uninhabited. Frankly its a scary area after sundown. I think its important to understand why an educated law student would want to be at a place like that at nearly midnight. Otherwise its only a matter of time before something horrible happens again."
Kishen, instead of jumping to silly conclusions about why unsavoury elements would be drawn to NLS, by your own admission, it is dark and scary, with few streetlights and almost no vehicular traffic. Instead of over-analysing the issue, you can just go with the obvious explanation as to why criminals (don't sugarcoat rapists by calling them "unsavoury characters").
Also, ragging was a crime which used to take place on campus. College authorities are supreme on campus. They have no authority to police public lands. Nor are they a band of vigilantes who would round couples offending your sensibilities or superheroes who deter rapists. At least pretend to compare likes, instead of making faulty comparisons to display your biases.
Another really logical answer to your silly conclusion is this - the couple was out at night since the rules on the NLS campus are extremely strict, and because the girl might have been suspended for fraternising with her boyfriend on campus. Ever considered it? Of course you didn't because you needed to make a misguided statement, as below:
"Theres a certain perception about NLS today that is disturbing and it exists for a reason. The police, courts and journos can be reined in. But thats only half the battle. The univ has to make an effort too."
What does the university rein in? Young people's love lives? The ability of people to determine who they want to spend time with and where? Or the lack of a conscience that makes men rapists? I don't think any institution in the world has been successful in achieving any of these three things, so if you have some magic formula, please feel free to share it with NLS authorities.
Kishen, instead of jumping to silly conclusions about why unsavoury elements would be drawn to NLS, by your own admission, it is dark and scary, with few streetlights and almost no vehicular traffic. Instead of over-analysing the issue, you can just go with the obvious explanation as to why criminals (don't sugarcoat rapists by calling them "unsavoury characters").
[/quote]
Poor editing on my part. The sentence was meant to be that it is obvious why criminals would want to hang out in a dark and scary place with few street lights and almost no vehicular traffic. One doesn't need to be a genuis, which Kishen clearly is not.
“Upon inspecting the scene of assault, the police said that the spot was covered with bushes and thorns which could have severely injured her body if she was gang-raped. However, there were no visible signs of injuries on her body, said the police and added that they would be able to ascertain if it was a case of rape only after details of the medical report arrive
What do these quotes say? That a preliminary exam SUGGESTS "no rape". Do they say that it has been concluded that "no rape".. NO THEY DO NOT. No rape case can be confirmed without a medical report and that is certainly what the Hindu has said. So what is wrong? Where is the factual distortion? Or are we so brainwashed with feminist mumbo-jumbo that the slightest insinuation (really a factual assertion and not an insinuation) against a rape victim attracts such wrath? Lets wait for the medical report, see what it says and then let justice take its course...and yes if rape is proved and the rapists identified, send them to gaol for life.
The factual distortion is in you quoting the Hindu and then distorting LI's argument. LI's point is that the Hindu faithfully parroted half-baked and biased views from police officers who, instead of doing a thorough job of investigating, are busy giving interviews. Would highly recommend developing the patience to read an article with any open-mind before attacking it. While you're at it, try and figure out the difference between "factual assertiong" and "conjecture". Will help you with future factual distortions.
And as for being brainwashed with "feminist mumbo-jumbo", one doesn't have to be a feminist to see that in our country, rapists are almost never convicted on account of trivialities and baseless conjecture such as this. This, my friend, is actually a factual assertion, and not a half-assed attempt at trolling, like yours.
I read a previous post about the changing perception of the discipline of NLS student; but that should not make the BU take steps that might affect, in any manner, the actions that NLS may take in pursuit of justice.
Well done. Your dimwit response with your expletives and loss of motor control makes me wonder which law school you are from. Your extreme reaction, I'm guessing is overcompensation for some other shortcoming of yours you are ashamed of. Maybe after a few years you'll learn to reason better.
I don't recall commenting anything about not "accepting" it as an act of rape. I stand by every word. There are some things within our control, there are some things that are not. Going on a picnic into a naxal infested jungle dressed up in cop costumes is a freedom guaranteed by the law. It's also very very foolhardy. If a friend did that and got hurt, sure I'd send in a STF of commandos to nab those SOBs. But I'd want to know what made him do that. I'd strongly recommend others not follow suit. I sure as hell wouldnt. Does that take away the fact that the assault was an unjustified crime? It does not. At the end of the day there's no point being in a hospital with a bunch of broken bones, if they're your own bones, no matter how righteous you were and how many laws the perps broke and how many years in jail they will rot if caught.
As I said before, raving and ranting and mass hysteria serves no purpose other than displaying lack of maturity (and providing Kian a laugh or two). My mistake has been in assuming a reasoned discussion was possible on this forum. I am done with this thread.
At the end of the day there's no point being called a [f..] senseless [c..] by anyone with any sense.
P.S. NOW you are done with this thread.
Does the lease deed in favour of NLS state that NLS can be evicted if one of its students is raped in the BU campus? If not, please shut up and clean your own stables.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/7-held-in-bangalore-student-rape-1-resister-shot/article4017331.ece