Indian journalism has just changed. It has taken a drastic shift. It no longer asks questions, rather it accepts the police version.Seeking truth is no more on its agenda. The courts aren't needed now. Just police version is enough to term anybody a terrorist. Sadly this happens in Delhi, the national capital.
The difference between a suspect, an accused and a convict, has ceased to exist. The result is that the same police that is termed 'useless' for failing to solve a murder case on a particular day by the media, gets so much praise that it is taken to the pedestal of 'saviours' the next day.
It's like a theatre now. Just like one day you criticise Dhoni and say that he is a waste and the other day he wins a match for you, and you are all praise for him. But this is dangerous for civil society. With all due respects to slain Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, we must remember that middle-class lumpenisation and such poor journalism would be detrimental for any democracy.
Indian press must act like a fourth estate & the scribes must not become 'embedded journalists'.We don't say that the encounter is fake. But the fact that every time a new mastermind comes up and media accepts it, forgetting that the person named the mastermind and blamed for the same blsat earlier is now probably either lodged in jail or acquitted.
The media just ignored that Waliullah who was accused of bombings in courts, has been absolved of anti-national activities recently. Now new masterminds are blamed for those crimes. We all hope that those behind the blasts should be arrested and there must not be any eyewash.
It was in Delhi that the infamous Cannaught Place encounter had taken place ten years ago. Then also the middle-class and the majority of papers accepted the version. It later surfaced that the encounter was fake and court sentenced 10 cops.
And it was the same 'encounter specialists' of the Delhi police's cell, the officials of which took pride in flaunting the number of persons they had shot. The same team. At least, media shouldn't be so gullible.
Bharat Bhushan's Mail Today, though it comes from the stable of India Today, has stood out as a newspaper that doesn't get swayed by the frenzy. Let the police complete the investigations and the courts should be allowed to do their jobs.1.Atif submitted his personal identification documents including driving licence, even photographs and cell phone number for police verification. The documents were with police.
2. Why Atif provided correct details about himself to police.
3. No terrorist would give his photograph to police after having staged a series of killer blasts (Ahmedabad and others), said an intelligence official, reported Mail Today on September 20.
4. Atif Ameen was brain behind Indian Mujahideen, had plotted and executed blasts in three cities that claimed 100 lives and had forged tenancy verification papers. The police statements are riddled with holes.
5. If police were acting on a ti;p-off why there was no protective gear for police. Even the slain inspector didn't have the proper footwear.
6. If Atif and his housemates were hardened terrorists what stopped them from using AK 47 which they said were at the terrorist's disposal. Why did they use only the pistols?
7. He submitted his papers at Jamia Nagar police station on August 20. Wouldn't it have been easier for him to fudge his identity or better still, retreat to safety of his home village?
8. On Friday, Aatif's flatmate Zeeshan took two re-exams to improve his percentage at IIPM and then re-appeared on TV channel to defend the innocence of his friend Atif. If he was a terrorist, he would have been better off fleeing Delhi after TV channels news broke of encounter. Police had no clue about his whereabouts and was arrested moments after he appeared on Headlines Today.
9. Had Atif planted the bombs that rocked Ahmedabad and Jaipur, would he be giving his home address in police verification report on August 15, three weeks after Ahmedabad blasts?
10. Joint Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Karnail Singh said two youth escaped in the thick of action. Was it possible for two men to escape from a rabbit warren of a building with tiny rooms? They couldn't have escaped from the narrow lane teeming with policemen. The entire area was full of policemen and all residents and shopkeepers were earlier asked to go inside their homes and down shutters. Nobody else was on streets except policemen. To escape, the two would have had to jump from fourth floor, they'd have died.
11. How did Abu Bashar, in police custody for long, give clues only now?
Evening newspaper Mail Today in its September 20, 21 issues asks:
Newspaper poses questions to Jt CP
What exactly was the tip-off?
If the tip-off was about terror suspects why were the police not in terror gear and using bullet proof vests?
How the two escape if there was no back door or staircase?
Did Atif Ameen and his roommates give all their details to police?
If the suspected terrorists were involved in blasts, why would they submit these details to police?
Why did Zeeshan appear in public on TV channel if he was involved in blasts?
Who are the two who escaped? What are their names?
Why would a terrorist continue with his studies with 79% class attendance if he want to blow away cities?
Why were policemen not in anti-terror gear, one was wearing track suit, the other wearing sandals?
Meanwhile, it is pertinent to read Vir Sanghvi's article on Encounters. It is insightful:
Other cases of mistaken identity have rarely caused a stir if the victims have
been poor or powerless. A few years ago, the Bombay Police shot a chanawallah
dead after mistaking him for a gangster. The papers tried to make a fuss but
readers were simply not interested.Can any society afford a policy where any policeman can kill anybody at will and then later claim that the victim was a gangster or a terrorist? And yet, that’s exactly where India is headed.
