The situation in Bangladesh remains tense, but the Indian media is unreliable when it comes to any information about our neighbour, writes Ranjona Banerji
Ranjona Banerji
August 23, 2024
Bengal remains top of the mind, news-wise. Or rather, Bengal and Bangladesh. And you could add to that Assam, which is in the neighbourhood.
There appears to be a connection between the rape and murder of the young doctor and charges of corruption and some sort of mafia running RG Kar and other hospitals in Bengal. First these were rumours within the Bengali community, shared on social media. But now more and more media outlets have picked up on the very serious allegations against the hospital.
The Supreme Court hearing on August 22 also heard about the allegations, and raised questions about who the director, Dr Sandip Ghosh, was trying to protect. This is especially significant given the lies and misinformation first sent out over the doctor’s death, including an RG Kar administrator informing the parents that the doctor had suicided. That the doctor knew about the murky mafia is also an allegation raised against the hospital director.
This is a damning statement made by RG Kar’s deputy superintendent:
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2024/Aug/21/flagged-corruption-charges-against-sandip-ghosh-two-years-ago-says-rg-kar-hospital-official
How much of this appeared in the local media over the years? Definitely, the national media did not pick up on it.
The Supreme Court hearing appears to have calmed anger down somewhat, as far as striking doctors are concerned. But the issue of crimes against women remains. Once the outrage calms down, Indian society gets very prickly about the matter of patriarchy. Almost every politician of every hue, colour, sex, gender, ideology finds it easy to somehow blame women and protect the men involved. The media plays no small role in this.
Recent allegations of rape, severe sexual assault and harassment on X/Twitter by a former journalist by her editors and others, have caused almost no ripples in the media, except in a few small circles.
The situation in Bangladesh remains tense, but the Indian media is unreliable when it comes to any information about our neighbour. Lies and misinformation remain at the top of the media agenda, especially when it comes to Hindu-Muslim relations. News after news about Hindus being attacked are debunked. This means that when Hindus are actually attacked – and there have been such cases since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government – it is hard to know which news outlet to believe.
This tendency of the Indian media is directly attributable to the rise of the BJP-RSS and obviously since the ascension of Narendra Modi to the throne. It is a dangerous menace but unfortunately shows no sign of subsiding.
It is therefore somewhat pleasant to see that media associations in Assam took exception to Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s needless Islamophobic comments to a journalist who asked him a question about the flattening of hills in Assam at a press conference. Biswa Sarma, since he left the Congress and joined the BJP, has been relentless in his attacks on Muslims.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/assam/media-bodies-slam-assam-cm-for-targeting-scribes-religious-identity/article68554012.ece
The status of women’s safety in India is made clear by this
https://www.livelaw.in/news-updates/delhi-court-orders-security-arrangement-for-women-wrestler-in-sexual-harassment-case-against-brij-bhushan-singh-267451
The Delhi Police has made some garbled defence of itself, by claiming that security has been handed over to the Haryana Police. But in the use of words like “misunderstood” and “rectified” by the Delhi Police, it is clear that something was afoot:
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/vinesh-phogat-alleges-withdrawal-of-security-from-women-wrestlers/article68555855.ece
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.
There appears to be a connection between the rape and murder of the young doctor and charges of corruption and some sort of mafia running RG Kar and other hospitals in Bengal. First these were rumours within the Bengali community, shared on social media. But now more and more media outlets have picked up on the very serious allegations against the hospital.
The Supreme Court hearing on August 22 also heard about the allegations, and raised questions about who the director, Dr Sandip Ghosh, was trying to protect. This is especially significant given the lies and misinformation first sent out over the doctor’s death, including an RG Kar administrator informing the parents that the doctor had suicided. That the doctor knew about the murky mafia is also an allegation raised against the hospital director.
This is a damning statement made by RG Kar’s deputy superintendent:
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2024/Aug/21/flagged-corruption-charges-against-sandip-ghosh-two-years-ago-says-rg-kar-hospital-official
How much of this appeared in the local media over the years? Definitely, the national media did not pick up on it.
The Supreme Court hearing appears to have calmed anger down somewhat, as far as striking doctors are concerned. But the issue of crimes against women remains. Once the outrage calms down, Indian society gets very prickly about the matter of patriarchy. Almost every politician of every hue, colour, sex, gender, ideology finds it easy to somehow blame women and protect the men involved. The media plays no small role in this.
Recent allegations of rape, severe sexual assault and harassment on X/Twitter by a former journalist by her editors and others, have caused almost no ripples in the media, except in a few small circles.
The situation in Bangladesh remains tense, but the Indian media is unreliable when it comes to any information about our neighbour. Lies and misinformation remain at the top of the media agenda, especially when it comes to Hindu-Muslim relations. News after news about Hindus being attacked are debunked. This means that when Hindus are actually attacked – and there have been such cases since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government – it is hard to know which news outlet to believe.
This tendency of the Indian media is directly attributable to the rise of the BJP-RSS and obviously since the ascension of Narendra Modi to the throne. It is a dangerous menace but unfortunately shows no sign of subsiding.
It is therefore somewhat pleasant to see that media associations in Assam took exception to Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s needless Islamophobic comments to a journalist who asked him a question about the flattening of hills in Assam at a press conference. Biswa Sarma, since he left the Congress and joined the BJP, has been relentless in his attacks on Muslims.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/assam/media-bodies-slam-assam-cm-for-targeting-scribes-religious-identity/article68554012.ece
The status of women’s safety in India is made clear by this
https://www.livelaw.in/news-updates/delhi-court-orders-security-arrangement-for-women-wrestler-in-sexual-harassment-case-against-brij-bhushan-singh-267451
The Delhi Police has made some garbled defence of itself, by claiming that security has been handed over to the Haryana Police. But in the use of words like “misunderstood” and “rectified” by the Delhi Police, it is clear that something was afoot:
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/vinesh-phogat-alleges-withdrawal-of-security-from-women-wrestlers/article68555855.ece
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.
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