Beyond the outrage: Media coverage of Kolkata rape-murder case has many blind spots

Independence Day this year will be remembered not for the predictable statements made by politicians but for the images of thousands of women and men who came out on the streets of Kolkata to “Reclaim the Night”. They were protesting about the brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old junior doctor at the RG Kar Hospital and Medical College on August 9.

Even as the story behind the brutal crime continues to unravel, with the focus now on the college administration and its responsibility for what happened, the protests that have spread beyond Kolkata remind us, yet again, about the pervasive violence that Indian women encounter in the workplace. 

Although the outrage over the rape and murder has received wide media coverage and would have contributed to the Supreme Court stepping in and taking suo motu cognisance of it, there are several questions about how media handles sexual assaults that must be asked.

Predictably, proximity and relevance to a media market continue to determine what sexual crimes get detailed coverage. Rapes and assaults in cities, where the media and its urban “market” are based, determine the extent of coverage. We have seen this in the past, and this holds true today. 

An illustration is the perfunctory reporting on the rape and murder of a nurse working at a private hospital in Uttarakhand. She was assaulted and killed on July 30, but the crime was known only after her body was found on August 8. Till today, we know nothing more about this crime.  

When politics is added to the brew, coverage by the media is assured. And this is precisely what has happened in Kolkata, where parties opposing Mamata Banerjee’s state government have used it as an opportunity to attack her and demand her resignation. This politicisation of a horrendous sexual crime detracts from what I consider to be the central issue: the continuing vulnerability of women to sexual assault despite changes in the law. 

Some in the media have compared the Kolkata rape and the widespread outrage and countrywide protests that have followed in its wake to the December 2012 gang-rape of a young woman in Delhi. Then too, there were demonstrations across India with demands for justice. Then too, opposition parties joined the protestors. And then too, a woman politician, Sheila Dixit of the Congress party, who was the Chief Minister of Delhi, was the focus of public anger. 

In 2012, the print media and television channels played an important role in amplifying the voices of the protestors. As a result, the central government, helmed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was compelled to set up a committee, headed by Justice JS Verma, to look again at the laws related to rape and suggest changes.  

The report was ready in a month, and by 2013, the UPA government passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013. The new law incorporated some, but not all, of the suggestions made by the Verma Committee and added the death penalty for rape, something the Verma Committee had opposed. The government also allocated funds to set up one-stop centres that would come to the aid of victims of sexual crimes.

Despite this, and the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, Kolkata is an ugly reminder that little has changed. 

In 2012, the media followed the law that requires us not to publish the name or give any hints of the identity of the rape victim or survivor. To get around this, several pseudonyms were chosen. In the end, Nirbhaya stuck, and that is the name that the government and the media continue to use when referring to the victim of the 2012 Delhi gang-rape. 

That rule continues to be followed by established media. But unlike 2012, when print and electronic dominated the mediascape, today we face a new reality: the internet and social media. It is now so pervasive that it is gradually becoming the dominant source of news for a growing number of Indians with smartphones. 

To know what’s happening, people do not depend on established media anymore.

The impact of this change is evident when something like the Kolkata rape incident takes place. Within hours, the social media space was overwhelmed with rumour and speculation. Despite the law that prohibits the identity of the victim being revealed, the young doctor’s name and photograph were being liberally circulated. What is worse, within days, her photograph reportedly also appeared on porn websites with details of the assault. 

In these circumstances, the task of sifting fact from fiction becomes even more difficult for journalists reporting on this case. The obfuscation by the hospital authorities has added additional hurdles in obtaining verified information. And the conflicting narratives put out by the warring political groups have only added to the confusion. 

Meanwhile, social media is swirling with rumours and conspiracy theories that are rapidly disseminated. One such rumour was that the mob that attacked the protestors and damaged the premises of the hospital on the night of August 15 also destroyed evidence of the rape and murder. While the mob attack was frightening, with videos clearly showing the absence of any resistance from the local police, the damage done did not include the room where the rape and murder took place as this report by AltNews clarifies. This is just one illustration of the problem that journalists reporting on this must face every day. 

The real tragedy of the shifting focus of media reporting, which is now on the hospital authorities and their inaction, is that the central issue of the safety of women professionals at the workplace has become almost incidental. The protestors have not forgotten and continue to highlight it. But the media’s gaze has shifted. 

For instance, there have been hardly any reports on the conditions under which women doctors work in government hospitals across India. Or, for that matter, women in any other profession. The stories would be similar – lack of basic facilities, the absence of redressal methods to deal with sexual harassment, the lack of safety, particularly when they are required to work at night, among others.  

An exception was the Hindustan Times, where reporters spoke to junior doctors in five locations across the country. The picture that emerged was familiar. Over the years, there have been several instances, such as during the Covid pandemic, for instance, when the work conditions of junior doctors came into focus. 

The BBC also reported on their conditions and reminded us of the case of Aruna Shanbaug, a nurse at Mumbai’s KEM hospital, who was raped and almost strangled with a bicycle chain by a contract worker in 1973. She survived, but only just. She was left in a vegetative state, and nothing could be done as Indian law does not permit active euthanasia. After 42 years, she died on May 18, 2015. 

We also read little or nothing to make readers understand that the justice system continues to fail women despite changes in the law initiated after the 2012 Delhi gang-rape. 

In 2012, because of the huge outcry and public pressure, the case was fast tracked, and the six men (including a minor) were apprehended and charged. By September 2013, the five adults were convicted and given the death sentence. The minor was given a three-year sentence in a juvenile correctional facility. Finally, on March 20, 2020, after they had exhausted all their avenues of appeal, four of the convicts were hanged. One had died in police custody in 2013. 

Today, there are literally thousands of cases that have not moved forward. Jyoti Yadav of Print has followed the 1992 gang-rape of a minor in Ajmer and reported on how the survivor has had to struggle to pursue the case. Finally, in August this year, after 32 years, the six men charged with the crime were convicted and sentenced to life.

Or take the more recent case of the Dalit woman who was gang-raped at Hathras in Uttar Pradesh four years ago and died thereafter. The story had drawn media attention, especially the way she was hastily cremated despite her family’s objections. A rare follow-up is this report by Nidhi Suresh in Newslaundry that illustrates the endless struggle of the family to get justice.

A noticeable difference visible in print media since August 9 is the way reports on rapes are now given greater prominence. These incidents would have been reported, but probably as minor stories, that in media jargon are called “crime briefs”. In the last few weeks, many such reports are more visible – a gang-rape here, a nurse raped in a hospital, minors sexually assaulted by school staff, among others. But the trend is unlikely to continue before other “breaking news” demands more space and time.  

One of the most insightful videos after the Kolkata rape case is this interview with lawyer Vrinda Grover in The News Minute, where she gives us a much-needed perspective on the criminal justice system and its failure. She reminds us that it is not the absence of law that affects women, but the way it is implemented, or rather not implemented. It is the justice system that has continued to fail all women, and particularly marginalised women who have no voice.

This report was originally published in NewsLaundry.