A story and a few questions

I guess it was around 8 pm some day in December last year when I was working on my routine phone calls to police stations in search of any crime spot (a drill which I carried out everyday, in fact which almost every other reporter also did so as to not get an earful from their respective bosses the next day for having missed any spot). I was working with a leading national daily in Chandigarh when I called the station house officer of Sector 17 police station that night. “Sir, Namaste. Yogesh bol raha hu. Kuch hai kya aaj?”

”Kaha hai tu,” the officer asked. “Office me,” I replied. “Waha kya kar raha hai, idhar aa. Saari news to idhar hai,” the officer said, almost mocking me of being unaware of the happenings in the city. It came to my knowledge that an FIR of rape had been registered involving some cop but could gather only limited information from a few phone calls I had made here and there. I realized I had to rush to the police station to find out everything and hurriedly drove to Sector 17, even without informing my chief reporter, who always expected me to notify him about my whereabouts 24*7 and that to pick up his call within three telephone rings, even if I was to be in Alaska.  

Upon reaching the police station, I saw senior police officers present with an army of police vehicles. Something really big had happened. And a few moments later, I realize that five constables of the Chandigarh police had been accused of gangraping a 17 year old girl, with four of them arrested. Now that was BIG, protectors of law being accused of perpetrators of crime. The Chandigarh police realized that this news would definitely be the next day’s headline in every newspaper and that it would not end anywhere soon. Senior officers were so tensed about the outbreak of the news that then DSP of the area said to me, “We have also arrested two more persons today who were accused of murder,” in a hope that I might tone down the language of my article on gangrape by cops, and balance it by showing the achievement of the police in catching the accused in the separate murder case. “Thoda dekh ke likhiyo bhai,” he added making some more efforts.

When any news of such gigantic importance breaks especially when you are new in the profession, the first thing that concerns you is to get all the facts correct and all possible information in hand. I talked to the victim’s family members, got quotes of senior police officers and went to the nearby hospital where the girl and the accused had been taken for medical examination jotting the drama that took place there (basically the public protesting against the Chandigarh police). I was hoping I had everything in my notepad, especially after my chief reporter had given me a pep talk while I was on the field. “Yogesh, we should not only have the maximum information but also more than all other newspapers,” he said.

I returned to my office and started filing the story while in between calling the police and the victim’s family members and adding further developments (one of which was the arrested accused being beaten up by the public when they were brought to the hospital for medical examination. Some guy captured this on his phone and the video soon became viral, which btw I still have on my phone till date). I filed the story at around midnight and went home, which was thankfully a few blocks away from my office (you need that after a tiring day at work). “I hope the story gets printed tomorrow without being chopped,” I said to my roommate after telling him the series of events that occurred. I was a bit worried as the edit team in Delhi was already pissed by receiving the news so late in the night and that too on a short notice. “Well, they would be mad if they do not take it on page one,” he replied.

 Nevertheless, the article got printed with almost the whole of what I had written. With the news leading in all papers, angry residents of the city barged towards the police headquarters and staged a protest against the department that morning. Political leaders started scoring their own brownie points by fueling more protests. The event had become a political gimmick with the area councillor keeping the victim at an unknown “safe place” and not letting the police meet the girl for any kind of questioning.

Till now, all five constables were under arrest and had been suspended from duty. However, all this did not really help in controlling public anger as the whole staff of the Chandigarh police was constantly accused of being rapists. With criticism coming from all corners, senior officers finally dismissed all five accused from service.

Meanwhile, we continued to flock around the victim’s house to generate more news – related to the victim’s parents, further probe by the police or anything that we could get our hands onto. “So what do you do?” I asked the victim’s brother. During times like these when a news keeps boiling for weeks, it is essential to make good contacts with anyone and everyone who could provide any relevant information. “I am a teacher at the nearby government school,” he replied. “Oh! What do you teach?” I asked. “English,” he said. “However I want to be an actor. Once all this (case) is finished, I plan to move to Bombay,” he added. When I now look back, I sometimes wonder whether the victim’s brother was in a way enjoying all the publicity he got from the media.

A few more days passed by and articles on police criticism were over. But the drama did not stop there as new events took over once the police filed chargesheet in court. Gradually people started realizing that it wasn’t really a case of gangrape. It turned out that the victim had consensual sex with one of the accused. That accused had promised to marry her but he later refused. Thereafter, another accused promised to marry the victim but he too backtracked while the remaining three accused were witnesses to these ‘relationships’, with apparently having no or little role. The victim had filed a case of rape after the accused broke their promises. She later turned hostile in court and even denied knowing the accused and gave different statements multiple times.

The case went on for a few more months, meanwhile which I left the job and returned home to Delhi. However, recently I came to know that all the five accused had been acquitted by the court, in simpler terms, they were let off. Though it did come to me as a surprise since I was expecting the five cops to have been found guilty remembering that night when I had filed the story, but after considering the series of events that took place, the surprise subdued.      

So why am I telling you this story? Well, more than reciting my experience of covering the case, there are a few questions that come to my mind. On a closer look, you would find certain social issues hidden in the story.

Was the whole case abruptly attacked by media trial? Should all of us had been more careful while reporting the incident and not written off the five constables as criminals and the police department as partners in crime? I mean think of it, the five constables were dismissed from service much before the court even declared them innocent or guilty. It is not like suspension when you can be reinstated once the charges are found to be false. Their public image has been tarnished forever with little hope of any repair.  

Was is it necessary for the incident to have been politicized? Had the area councillor co-operated with the police, would the investigation been conducted swifter?   

Is the anti-rape law inclined too much towards benefitting women? Should it be used to settle scores and how often is it actually used? Can there be an alternative punishment for cheating in a relationship?

Well, this time rather than presenting my opinion, I leave it up to the readers to form their thoughts.