Media coverage encourages tormentors, who stabbed two helpless youth with screwdrivers, poured hot tea and rubbed chilli powder on their wounds
Media coverage encourages tormentors, who stabbed two helpless youth with screwdrivers, poured hot tea and rubbed chilli powder on their woundsEven as the media glorification of public brutality is increasing alarmingly, a mob tortured two mental patients, mistaking them for thieves, near the city yesterday.
Shivagangiah (42) and Saravana (40) are mental patients from Sri Satya Sai Ashram near Sunkada Katte off Magadi Road and reportedly strayed from the asylum to Kempanahalli, a village near Bidadi, a 30-minute drive from the city.
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| Locals thrash two mentally unstable men terming them as thieves. On seeing media crew, the mob turned even more violent, and started poking them with screwdrivers |
Theft of vehicle parts in this area has been rampant, and when the duo turned up at 4 am, vehicle owners, mostly truck drivers, mistook Shivagangiah and Saravana for thieves. Onlookers, along with drivers, brutally attacked the duo, after tipping off local TV channels.
TV channel crews promptly arrived at 5 am. By then, the mob had tied the duo before stripping them, and was beating them with iron rods and metal wires.
Encouraged by the cameras around them, the mob turned even more violent, and started poking them with screwdrivers. While a man poured hot tea on them, another rubbed chilly powder on the bruises.
This went on till 8.30 am, when a news channel started airing the visuals as 'breaking news' with headlines screaming 'Vahana Kallarige Bittu Goosa' (nice thrashing for the vehicle thieves).
Disturbed by the brutal images on TV, a civilian group went to the spot with an ambulance to take the mental patients to hospital. However, the mob protested saying they were thieves, and they must be punished.
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Finally, the police arrived at 9.30 am. Saravana was taken to hospital, while Shivagangiah's family members took him home.
"I am shocked to see the channel reporters busy in sensationalising the matter, rather than protecting the victims," said Manjula, Shivagangiah's wife.
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"One could easily tell that they were mentally ill, and I can't understand how anyone could think of them as thieves."
"While Saravana just uttered his name repeatedly, when we asked him where he was from, Shivagangiah kept mum," said Chandrashekar, who took the ambulance to the spot.
"However, there was nothing on them to indicate that they were thieves."
In his defence, a TV reporter who covered the incident, said that he was not proud of what he had done, but was only following instructions from his office.u00a0
"I know it was brutal. But, I was asked to do it that way and so I could not avoid it," he added.
Taking cognisance of the TV media reports, the Bidadi police registered a case against 12 miscreants.
However, none of them could be arrested as they are now absconding. Since last July, there have been 10 such cases, but this is the first time a case has been registered.
"My main concern is the TV channels which indulge in glorifying such incidents," said H Dharmendra, circle inspector, Bidadi Police Station. "We can only request them not to do so. Beyond that, we are helpless."
Another Incidentpeople thrashed a bridegroom, who was allegedly marrying for the second time, in Chikkamagalur yesterday, before he was handed over to the police. As usual TV channels were tipped off and the visuals were aired throughout the day and the story said the public rightly punished the cheat.
InhumanS R Nayak, chairman, Karnataka State Human Rights Commission, said, "While it is a crime to take law into one's hands, it is a violation of the human rights to air the news that way. However, the media has to be self restraint in this regard, as I believe media should not be regulated for any reason."
