A week before I had done an article on Nirbhaya case. There, I strongly opposed for the release of the guy. As I was checking the comment section, I found some people, of course boys, extremely agitated with the way law works on men. No! They were not defending the juvenile. They just said law is partial to men in general. Are they right? Honestly and UNFORTUNATELY they are.
The recent social media buzz is the rape of a 28-days old baby girl. (IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE?). It was first reported by TOI five days before like this, “The 28-day old baby girl was raped by a 25 year old man in Bulandshar. She was profusely bleeding and was taken to some government hospital.” This report was followed by several similar reports by IndiaTimes, DNAIndia. Being human, IBNlive and some of the sort. Some people made a video on this too while the news had even reached UK and Singapore.
Now, what if I say this was false news?
Delhi based independent journalist, took the *pain* of reaching the Bulandshar police and ask what the actual case is. She spoke to Mr. R. K Sharma who answered her basic questions and shared some important points.
He said:
“The injuries on the child’s vagina were of nature that can happen even because of wiping with a cloth (news reports said profuse bleeding.) Medical Reports have ruled out any rape. No penetrative assault has happened at all. Now a medical board has been formed to look into the case but initial reports do not suggest any crime as alleged. We are investigating the case very closely and will take actions if anything as alleged has happened. We have been informed by the villagers that the father of the child had made allegations of rape on his wife by another man in the village a year ago and taken money to strike a compromise. It was a false case and now also villagers and neighbors of the complainant themselves are saying nothing like that has happened. Statement of the complainant have been contradictory as in the FIR they stated that they went to vote when the crime happened while to the doctor, the mother said she had bathed the baby and left her in the open on the roof and gone downstairs when the assault happened and she saw the accused man escaping. These are election times and there are lot of conflicts that happen because of it. We have been told that the accused had a fight with the complainant over who to vote. Our investigations are on right now and we are looking at the case from all the angles. Strict action would be taken against the culprit if allegations are true.” (Source – https://xpressionsdpka.wordpress.com/)
So now we come out with two consequences at the end of the day:
- Yellow Journalism.
- Increase in rate of false rape cases in India.
Yellow Journalism: Basically, media forgets to investigate the other side of the story and shows their unprofessionalism at its highest peak. They publish the article on the basis of what the parents said ONLY.
Is this how it should be done? The mother of the baby just said she saw a man leaving from home, while TOI steps forward and initially named the accused as Namino around 25 while the same news website has a different story! In another report they say, the man was around 20 and was named Naveen Jatav. I wonder what they are trying to do!
Now, what I feel is, there’s a tough competition among the Indian media. They want to come in the limelight by cooking up such heinous and inhumane rape stories. They don’t even think twice before giving a representational picture of the baby and using captions like “I am a 28-days old rape victim”. They forget that she is the daughter some other parent! I pity them! I seriously do!
Increase in the rate of false rape cases in India: According to the survey, 53.2% rapes cases filed are false. That means, 47.8% rapes out 100 has actually taken place and not all. This false rape cases ruins the life of the accused literally. The man suffers the same mental agony, disgrace and humiliation in the society just like the rape victims. No matter court proves him innocent, in society he is known as a rapist. His family is ridiculed everywhere and is boycotted. Not only this! The false rape cases play a havoc role in shooting up the crime graph of India.
A false accusation of rape can certainly be damaging socially. The conviction should be solely based on the evidence. In India, the story is different. A woman’s word that you raped her, is enough to land you in prison for a day at the very least, until you get bail. Then, the burden of proof remains on the accused (that is, on the man) to prove that he did not rape her. The court relies on the sole testimony of the woman which should be changed as soon as possible! It is high time when the court should start taking strict actions on those women who file false rape cases!
Note: Image used in this post is only for representational purpose.
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