The tabloids are brimming with news of Indrani Mukerjea, India’s leading media personality. In a nutshell, Indrani, her ex-husband and her driver have been accused of the murder of Sheena Bora, who was Indrani’s daughter, but had been socially introduced as her sister.
Three years after this alleged incident, an unknown source tipped off authorities and they are trying to collect evidence to justify Sheena’s mysterious disappearance.
The media has fed off these bits of information for a week, as Indrani and the other two accused are in police custody. Readers have received a blow-by-blow account of what possibly could have happened. Former colleagues, school friends, media personalities and acquaintances have been interviewed, and intimate details of her life are now for public consumption. Speculation, hatred, malice, suspicion and moral policing are in full force, while Indrani remains a suspect not a convicted murderer.
Which really makes me think why would the media get so minutely involved in a criminal case? By showing extensive coverage, following the police investigation and getting statements from various people (including random people who have no business giving statements in this case), what is the media trying to get at? Are they playing the role of the police or a gossip magazine churning out scoops of a celebrity scandal? I suppose, the subject is too juicy to ignore. It has all the right ingredients to make front page news — a glamorous go-getter wife of a corporate head honcho, the mysterious relationship with a sister who was then discovered to be her daughter, a twisted plot, a number of ex-husbands and estranged relationships. There are a million murder cases that happen, many of which get pushed under the carpet and are denied justice. This being a high-profile case has found itself prime position on the front page.
Most of us know nothing about Indrani. We know nothing about her except what the media has portrayed her to be. And this has resulted in cruel jokes or hate mail doing the rounds on social media. All this with no real knowledge about the case. The image of her youngest daughter breaking down and hugging her was heart wrenching, and more so because it was covered on every news channel worth their salt. Has the media become so insensitive that they fail to see a human being suffering that very situation that has become their scoop for the week. By no means am I standing up for Indrani. All I’m saying is: Whatever happened to ‘innocent until proven guilty’?
