Letter to Hoot ¿First person reporting on rape¿

IN Opinion | 30/09/2002

Criticising TOI¿s Mishra

<synopsis>This is in reference to ¿First person reporting on rape¿.

</synopsis>

While the objections raised here are indeed very valid, I think we have a lot to thank Mishra and the TOI for. Firstly, it is easy to criticise Mishra from an activist¿s viewpoint, but somebody else in Mishra¿s place would surely not have even cared to lodge an FIR. At least he did that.

Secondly, by carrying it as an anchor the TOI not only outraged Mumbaikars but the whole nation - outraged about our own selves and our callousness towards such social issues. This outrage has given the national media a chance to focus, for once, on sexual crimes. While the issue was debated in talk shows on national televesion, India Today did a cover story on it. In the HT¿s Lucknow edition, an anchor story was titled: ¿Shockwaves: LU girl molested...¿ This was not the first time a woman had been molested at the University of Lucknow, but the prime space given to the event was a clear fallout Mishra¿s story and accompanying controversy.

City journalist Agniva Banerjee wrote in ¿Lucknow Times¿ (The Times of India) about how LU authorities themselves promote sexual harassment on the campus - one unnamed authority went to the extent of saying that men won¿t be called men if they didn¿t harass women in LU. Such strong reports forced the LU authorities to pull up their socks, though they did murmur that the papers had ¿blown the issue out of proportion¿.

All thanks to Ambarish Mishra and the editors of TOI, Mumbai.

Shivam Vij

Lucknow

28 September, 2002

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