The news coming out of the village of Sandeshkhali in West Bengal is shocking to say the least. The women of the village have accused a local Trinamool Congress politician, Sheikh Shahjahan, a Zila Parishad member, and his affiliates, of sexual assault and land-grabbing.
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/in-sandeshkhali-ncw-chief-claims-she-received-2-rape-complaints-tv-journalist-arrested-9170007/
This case is a textbook example of how the mainstream Indian media covers sexual assault cases depending on which party is in power.
Before you start thinking, “O classic whataboutery”, let us just look at a couple of other cases.
It was in January last year – 2023 – that India’s wrestlers began their protest against the then head of the Wrestlers Federation of India, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a BJP MP. Several medal-winning wrestlers, men and women, who supported the BJP, approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and help the women who accused Singh of sexual assault and inappropriate behaviour. They were told that a committee would look into the matter.
Since nothing happened, in April last year India’s top athletes sat in protests until June in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar area. Despite the severity of the complaints of inappropriate touching, manhandling and threats, nothing was done. The police added to the assault by also manhandling and beating India’s athletes. Singh remained defiant and the BJP and government did nothing.
The mainstream media thus followed the pattern set by the ruling party. These wrestlers were portrayed as making a fuss, lying, being ungrateful. We were entertained with serious analyses of how important to Singh was to the BJP and therefore could not be touched and so on. Those athletes once feted were now dismissed or further harassed by the media.
It is interesting to see how the news is framed even when it is covered. In the following clip, the headline says “clash erupts between wrestlers and police” and not as an attack by the police on the women, as it otherwise would likely have been. This sort of wording is carefully chosen to mould public opinion and stay on the BJP’s better side. So even if you are forced to cover something, you carefully steer the sheep in the direction you favour.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/news/clash-erupts-between-wrestlers-and-delhi-police-sakshi-malik-detained/videoshow/100565356.cms
To this day, the bulk of the mainstream media has not felt it necessary to insist on justice for these women nor hold the BJP to account.
And then there’s Manipur. This state in the Northeast of India has been in turmoil, close to civil war and definitely anarchy, since May last year. Not only has the mainstream media consistently ignored Manipur – almost a news blackout as people were shot dead in the streets and armouries were raided – it has obviously ignored reports of gross sexual crimes against women.
In July 2023, a video emerged of two naked women, from the Kuki tribe, being paraded naked, fondled and assaulted by a large group of men from the dominant Meitei population of Manipur. At least one of the two women were possibly gangraped. The video was very disturbing to watch and thus got plenty of traction on social media and eventually, the news. The video was from May, soon after the violence broke out.
https://thewire.in/communalism/manipur-video-two-kuki-women-paraded-naked-gang-raped
This is only one of several such incidents which must have happened. If we know about them, it is not thanks to the mainstream media, especially television. Sexual violence and murder continue in Manipur to this day – clashes between people, the police, the Armed Forces.
Did I add that Manipur is a BJP-ruled state? And that the Prime Minister – who barely mentioned Manipur once last year – and the Union Home Minister, who made one perfunctory visit, have repeatedly told us that the Chief Minister N Biren Singh is doing a great job? Manipur is one example of the BJP’s efficient “double engine” states.
This is Manipur now:
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/manipur-armouries-targeted-by-mobs-1-shot-dead-9161578/
Given the BJP’s double standards on violence against women on their turf and in those ruled by other parties, it is hardly surprising that this PIL reached the Supreme Court of India, asking for a Special Investigative Team to look into Sandeshkhali, as has been done for Manipur:
https://www.indiatoday.in/law/story/supreme-court-rejects-plea-in-sandeshkhali-women-sexual-violence-dont-compare-with-manipur-2504181-2024-02-19
The reasons for the media’s skewed priorities are sadly obvious. West Bengal is TMC-ruled – that is one issue. The other is that the main accused in Sandeshkhali is Muslim. A large part of the mainstream Indian media is now seemingly part of the Sangh Parivar’s Hindu majoritarian movement. Thus it will concentrate more on demonising Muslims rather than investigating or highlighting similar cases against non-Muslims, especially Hindus, as in Brij Bhushan Singh and the wrestlers.
The fact that two of the accused in Sandeshkhali have been arrested is not important to the media. That Shahjahan is absconding puts extra pressure on the TMC. Which the BJP did not get, even when Brij Bhushan Singh was in full public view brazening out the allegations at all times.
The message to India’s women from the Indian media is clear: you will get support if you belong to the right religion, if the accuser belongs to the wrong religion and whether the BJP may be possibly shown in a bad light or not.
And I haven’t even gone into the Bilkis Bano case.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.