The Curious Case of Asok Kumar Ganguly
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A JOURNAL OF THE PRESS INSTITUTE OF INDIA ISSN 0042-5303 April-June 2014 Volume 6 Issue 2 Rs 50 The curious case of Asok Kumar Ganguly CONTENTS • Supreme Court ruling The Press, or the Fourth Estate, is expected to set things on IPC Section 377: right when the other three administrative machineries – the How progressive is Indian democracy? / Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary – have gone Mukesh Rawat wrong or are trying to either condone wrong or help cover up wrongs. collates facts on the Asok • New media technology and Shoma A. Chatterji sexual crimes / Kumar Ganguly case gathered from various national and Bharat Dogra regional media. She says it is for readers to draw their own conclusions • Who will cast the first vote Shoma A. Chatterji for equality? / Ammu Joseph n allegation is not proof of guilt. This is an • Attention TV news anchors axiom that seems to be honoured only in the breach in India, and and reporters! / “A especially in West Bengal.” This is the opening sentence of the first J. V. Vil’anilam editorial in The Telegraph dated January 9, 2014. The media has largely backed • Connecting stakeholders in retired Supreme Court Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly’s denial of the allegation healthcare / Pradeep Nair that when he was a judge he had ‘harassed’ a law intern. Yet, the powers-that- and Harikrishnan Bhaskaran be in political circles across the country, including those with vested interests, • Private FM, community succeeded in forcing him to resign as chairperson of the Human Rights radio stations have a case/ Commission in West Bengal. “Mr. Ganguly said that he put in his papers to Ankuran Dutta and preserve his dignity against the ‘hostile attitude’ of the state government. The Anamika Ray latter has been proceeding on the assumption that Mr. Ganguly is guilty even • View from the Northeast: / before anything has been proved against him,” states the same editorial. Nava Thakuria Who is the ‘intern’? No one knows who she is, where she lives and what she does. She charged the judge with sexually harassing her in a hotel room. If her • History of Kannada charge was true, why did she take the vehicle arranged by the judge to travel Journalism / back from the hotel, instead of asking the hotel to book her a car? Why, instead Mrinal Chatterjee of going to the police or instigating legal action, did she raise the issue through • A real woman at last / a blog which has much less credibility than an FIR? Ranjita Biswas The term ‘sexual harassment’ will need to be looked at from a different • Bollywood & stereotypes / perspective in the Asok Kumar Ganguly case. Media coverage, especially in Fatima Siddiqui the press, traces his impeccable professional record, which leads any intelligent and objective person to conclude that the phrase “sexual harassment’ has not • Adult‘a’rated TV and our once been used against the erudite man. outdated laws / On January 4, 2014, www.ibn.in.live stated in a report that a PIL had been Edara Gopi Chand filed by Padma Narayan Singh before the Supreme Court alleging that Mohun • Remembering Khushwant Singh / Suchitra Sen / Ila (Continued on page 3) Pathak April-June 2014 VIDURA 1 FROM THE EDITOR May 3, and why we must value press freedom hy is press freedom important? It is important because people everywhere have a right to know what is happening, journalists have a duty to report facts as they are, and readers or viewers have a right to Wvoice their opinions and be heard. It is in many ways an extension of individual freedom. A journalist called me an hour ago and asked why there wasn’t any semblance of World Press Freedom Day (May 3) being celebrated or talked about in India. For a moment I was nonplussed. I then said that it was indeed true and that very little is being done by news publishing houses here to raise awareness about the crucial role a free press plays in the region’s development. When the United Nations General Assembly declared May 3 to be World Press Freedom Day, the objective was to remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to Freedom of Expression enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. When I received the call from the journalist, I was reading a news report in The Times of India, about the controversial editing of BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s interview to Doordarshan. Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar, the report said, had acknowledged that certain portions “were apparently edited”. What was more significant in the report was Sircar drawing attention to “this long traditional linkage between the ministry and the news division which has continued unabated even after Prasar Bharati was born….” He also hinted at the Information & Broadcasting Ministry having failed to give the public broadcaster the autonomy it had sought. The I & B Minister later said that the ministry “has an arm’s-length relationship” with Prasar Bharati. I did not find it particularly surprising, considering that in a recent report, Reporters Without Borders, a non- profit body, had ranked India 140 out of 180 countries surveyed for the freedom it gave the media. We have all of course heard about a leading publishing house withdrawing a book, about the clampdown on social media, about Twitter accounts sought to be blocked, etc. Quite ironical when you think that in today’s world where there are no bars to communication, you should be actually encouraging young people, regardless of gender and ethnicity, to play a proactive role in advancing press freedom and finding ways to express its importance. Press freedom is about so many issues, it is impossible to put it all down in an edit piece. But certainly, the freedom has not been valued or used well. Accuracy, fairness and balance have taken a beating in recent years. Youngsters from journalism schools are finding it difficult to cope up with the pressures on the ground; there is a great deal of attrition. There is not enough mentoring happening. Editors do not find time to spend with young reporters. It is again ironical that when today’s youngsters have good opportunities to train or apprentice, there has not been an appreciable improvement in the quality of journalism. In the mad scramble for news and bytes, ‘checking’, ‘condensing’ and ‘clarifying’ have taken a back seat, as a veteran journalist told me recently. World Press Freedom Day is also a time to spare a thought about the detention and imprisonment of journalists around the globe, individuals who have been sent to jail simply for doing their jobs. In India, of course, the situation is far, far better. But we must salute journalists who venture into the back of beyond or inhospitable terrain to bring news to the reader or viewer. The Daily Mirror in Sri Lanka printed a mirror image of its front page on May 3. The lone legible sentence on the page read: ‘Only true freedom of the press can turn things the right way around. Celebrating World Press Freedom Day 2014!’ The objective was to raise questions about the state of press freedom in that country. It’s time we raised questions about ours. Sashi Nair [email protected] 2 VIDURA April-June 2014 now that her ‘victimiser’ has been ‘punished’? Why have the parties who have indicted and taken action against Ganguly not brought her into public space? In a letter to the editor of The Statesman, Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee of Faridabad on 20th December 2013 writes about Khurshid Anwar, the 55-year-old executive director of an NGO, who committed suicide a day after he was booked for allegedly raping a 25-year-old woman, an allegation that was since rebutted as false and motivated by colleagues: “In the aftermath of Anwar’s death, how does one distinguish between a false allegation and an actual incident? ….the new law should Photo: Internet be amended so that an innocent person is not harassed; the burden Retired Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly says the allegation is false and that he is of proof should be on the accuser. innocent. If the woman complainant fails to do so, she should be punished (Continued from page 1) used by someone, then she would severely.” not have put it on a blog instead of The Protection of Human Rights taking legal action. There is a lot Act, 1994, Section 23 clearly states Bagan Club of Kolkata used the law of confusion here.” This is a valid the following: intern to defame Ganguly, who was point. But who is listening? Besides • The chairperson or any other handling the arbitration between this, the intern had only raised the member of the state commission Mohun Bagan and the All India issue 11 months after the incident shall only be removed by order Football Federation (AIFF). The PIL and after Ganguly had retired as of the President of India on the comes down heavily on criminal judge. ground of proved misbehaviour law, police, media, judiciary and On the other hand, in a blog or incapacity government in the country. The posted on the website of the Journal • The Supreme Court, on a petitioner alleges that the response of Indian Law and Society, 12 National reference made by the President of the above organisations has been University of Juridical Sciences of India, has to hold an inquiry too harsh, as the whole purpose (NUJS) teachers said they were and report that the chairperson was to malign the image and appalled at Ganguly’s statement or a member has to be removed reputation of a public figure like that the law intern was a political on the ground mentioned Ganguly.