Letter to the Hoot: Reporting Akriti’s death
This opens up television reportage to the worst kind of manipulation possible. By all means, hang the guilty, but don"t perennially fall for the victimhood syndrome,
says NILOVA ROY CHAUDHURY
I am writing this because I have been deeply troubled by the complete lack of news sense displayed by the vast majority of our television channels in reporting the aftermath of the tragic death of the 17-year old girl Akriti Bhatia. Worse than voyeurism, this opens up television reportage to the worst kind of manipulation possible. Is this what journalism is about? Will there be no deaths from disease or natural causes in this country, or is there a deep-rooted conspiracy behind every death?
After being slow to pick up on the ghastly death by beating (not ragging) of 19-year-old Amann Kachroo in a government Medical college, the tv channels appear to be falling over each other to bash the public school in which Akriti studied. Is there any sense of proportion in the reportage?
Pls contrast the stoic grief of the Kachroos, who also lost their child through a series of very culpable acts of commission and omission by his college authorities, and the way they have channelised their nightmare to ensure that no child faces such trauma again, and what we are witnessing in
Clearly, the girl¿s parents and some students of Modern School Vasant Vihar have used the media¿s presence to run amok. Mikes thrust into the faces of 17-year-olds, obviously very traumatised by the sudden death of their friend, will lead them to vent their ire and grief. Nobody blames them, but one blames the tv channels for taking every two-bit statement in moments of hysteria as god¿s own truth.
While it is most tragic that a young life was lost, accusing the school principal of murder is ridiculous and seriously worse than over the top. At worst, she and the school can be faulted for errors of judgement in removing the oxygen cylinder or whatever.
How come nobody asks the parents and family of the girl why they sent her to school on Monday after she suffered an attack of asthma so severe on Saturday that she required nebulisation and medical care in a clinic? The obscene display of bawling "righteous anger" appears more aimed at deflecting the attention from the Bhatia¿s own callous negligence in sending their daughter to school in such a condition.Even the family admits Akriti had a chronic condition and the school was not responsible for her asthmatic attack.
I grant that she was in Class XII and probably worried about missing classes, but I am a parent and I would not have permitted my child to be sent to school so soon after a problem. EVERYONE and their neighbour is aware that asthma is triggered and aggravated by dust and heat. Were the Bhatias not aware that their daughter¿s school, where I gather she probably studied for over a decade, was not air-conditioned?
And at the risk of sounding "heartless", once her child called to say she was unwell, why did Mrs Bhatia not come in the car to school and only send the driver? If she was not so concerned as a parent, if she did not realise how ill her child was, why or how does she think the school would be?
Abdicating personal responsibility is a typical syndrome of this city¿s PLU¿s. And while I hold NO BRIEF for
By all means, hang the guilty, but don"t perennially fall for the victimhood syndrome.
Nilova Roy Chaudhury
Consulting Editor
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