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By Ranjona Banerji​
What price courage in the Indian media? The Caravan has truly carried an “explosive†story, by Niranjan Takle. It is an investigation into the death of Justice Brijgopal Harkishan Loya, who was the judge of a CBI special court. He was presiding over the trial of the now BJP president Amit Shah in the 2005 “encounter†death of Sohrabbudin Sheikh. (When the trial started, Shah was Gujarat’s home minister).
Loya, 48, died supposedly of a heart attack on December 1, 2014 on a visit to Nagpur, staying in official accommodation. Loya had asked Shah to appear before him on December 15, 2014. (The judge before Loya had been transferred out just before the date Shah was supposed to appear before him.) Loya’s family reached out to Takle in November 2016, with some damning information about the judge’s supposed heart attack and subsequent events, all of which are extremely shady. Takle’s detailed investigation, which has taken over a year, exposes a very frightening chain of events, with discrepancies, shoddy procedure and botched evidence.
http://www.caravanmagazine.in/vantage/shocking-details-emerge-in-death-of-judge-presiding-over-sohrabuddin-trial-family-breaks-silence
In any other country and at any other time in India, this story would have shaken the establishment. Instead, even on the roiling courage of Twitter, there has been relative silence. As for the rest of the media, although journalists have praised Caravan and Takle in their individual capacity, there has not been much else.
A quick search through the morning papers and news sites showed that other than The Wire, there were no follow-ups. That is, in spite of The Wire being in the middle of a legal wrangle with Amit Shah over his son Jay Shah’s financial dealings.
https://thewire.in/198557/family-questions-suspicious-death-judge-heard-sohrabuddin-fake-encounter-case/
This radio silence is nothing short of ominous and disastrous. If the media is so lacking in courage, then what hope is there for democracy?
Are we to forever discuss Hindi cinema’s travails, while ignoring what is at face value at least, the collapse of both law and order and the judicial system when a powerful politician is involved? These are precisely the stories which must be highlighted and spread like wildfire. Instead, there is almost a conspiracy of cowardice at work.
Of course, this is not the first time, more shame to us and sadly, it will not be the last.
Many congratulations to both Takle and Caravan. One can only hope that someone, somewhere, will take this further.
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While we’re on Hindi cinema, the row over the film Padmavati has consumed us because nothing else matters. And given the state of public discourse today, we are stuck on hurt pride, whether the story of Padmavati is historical or fictional, whether Deepika Padukone should dance or not and other such sundry questions.
The main issue is that members of an organisation called the Karni Sena have issued threats against the film, its producers, director and its star. The Haryana BJP media spokesperson Suraj Pal Amu announced a Rs 10 crore “bounty†to anyone who beheads Padukone and director Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Amu was doubling the bounty which Thakur Abhishek Som had offered. Som belongs to an organisation which claimed affiliation to the Samajwadi Party and has rightly been booked by the police in UP. As for Amu, he has been issued a “show cause†notice by the BJP. Clearly different strokes.
These matters are sidestepped by most of the media, especially television, as we get caught up in passion, emotion and a whole of fluff. Not to mention, giving plenty of airtime to the perpetrators of this harassment to spread their message further.
The other issue which has been brought up by the Padmavati row and which needs further discussion is the role of “royals†in Indian society. We are a democracy, we have no royals and that the chief ministers of Rajasthan and Punjab are being allowed to milk their backgrounds – so that they can support bullies and hooligans – ought to be unacceptable.
Of course, chance would be a fine thing.
On that note, here’s to more from a lapdog media.
​Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She is also Consulting Editor, MxMIndia. The views here are her own