Media trial of terror accused has been a matter of concern for over a decade. One important aspect of this phenomenon of our mainstream media is that it assumes the proactive role only when some accused belonging to a minority community are detained or arrested in some terror cases. And, needless to say, when the accused happen to be members of the majority community, our media applies another yardstick. In the former case, it declares the arrested persons in a stereotype and unequivocal manner as ‘terrorists’ belonging to some terror groups like ‘Indian Mujahideen’; and that too within hours of occurrence of the terror act and without waiting for the pronouncement of a court of law. And, in the latter case, it terms the arrested persons as ‘youth’, ‘unemployed youth’ or as ‘accused’ but never as ‘terrorists’. These are the two evident yardsticks of our media.
This role of media came to light once again on 8 November when Bihar police arrested Gopal Kumar Goyal, son of one Chavi Nath Sah; Pawan Gupta, son of one Parmanand Gupta; Vikas Kumar, son of one Vinay Kumar Sah; and Ganesh Prasad, son of one Laxmi Prasad from different locations of Lakhisarai district. The next day the police arrested one more person named Raju Sao in the same case. They were alleged as members of a money transaction racket involving withdrawal of money from Indian banks remitted from abroad and then depositing the same in designated accounts or delivering the same to designated persons on the basis of SMS instructions received from Pakistan mobile numbers. Twenty ATM cards, 10 SIM cards and a dozen passbooks were seized from their possession. Reports citing police sources confirmed that the police later discovered from them more than 50 fake bank accounts.
This was a major breakthrough in a State which had seen two incidents of terror blasts in recent months. But our mainstream media, both print and electronic, chose either not to cover it or give it space only with a ‘different’ yardstick. One English daily headlined the story as “Bihar police arrest 4 for ‘ISI links’”, another as “Illegal transaction of money unearthed”, yet another as “Arrested youths’ ISI links being probed”. None of them published the photographs of the accused. No TV channels took the trouble of presenting them on the screen. It was Urdu daily Inquilab which published the news in great detail along with photographs. The arrested persons were kept under judicial custody where no grilling could be done.
The Press Council of India should take serious notice of this unethical practice of media. The civil society should also take up this issue and put pressure on the Government for remedial measures.