The Gujarat High Court’s direction to the CBI, to ascertain the genuineness of Ishrat Jahan’s encounter instead of focusing on the inputs given by Intelligence Bureau (IB) is heartening. But what is depressing was the telecast of a conspiracy story by a news channel – Headlines Today, about a plot to kill Narendra Modi, at a time when the CBI was closing in on Rajendra Kumar, a top IB officer for his role in the alleged fake encounter. It is quite obvious that the IB has chosen to distract the attention of the people by planting a story through a media house, which boasted the concocted story as the result of “investigative journalism”. Even in these tapes, Ishrat Jahan was neither a caller nor was she referred to by the callers! Yet, the channel had the audacity to shamelessly declare the telephone tapes as “Ishrat Jahan terror tapes”. Doesn’t ethical journalism entail a TV channel to refrain from character assassination of an innocent person?
Syed Sultan Mohiddin
Kadapa, A.P