Tag: rheacharaborty

Rhea Chakraborty – A Witch Hunt

Rhea Chakraborty

The SSR suicide case has taken drastic turns since it was first taken under the umbrella of mainstream media. From dragging it through nepotism in bollywood, to demonising “Bollywood” for targeted harassment of Sushant and alienating him and now vilifying and torturing a girl and her family.

For anyone who has even a remote access to news is aware of the daily ‘media’ investigations of the suicide case.

But is there a sexist angle to this media campaign? It seems that this might be the case. Rhea Chakraborty the then partner of SSR became a soft target for this manhandling by the media.

Tarushikha Sarvesh, assistant professor of sociology at the Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies at Aligarh Muslim University, says that the media has been extremely irresponsible in their coverage of the issue. “The gender bias has been quite evident. The media has been irresponsible in handling the issue. There is a difference between reporting and sensationalising. They cannot corner people and pronounce them guilty or evoke negative sentiments about them,” Sarvesh said the fact that channels have sought to target Chakraborty reflect the misogyny in Indian media houses, the scholar said. “It is as if the media wants to say that by being a woman, you are already a witch. This amounts to harassment and must affect the mental health of the concerned persons,” she added.

Advocate Karuna Nundy, who has been following the Rajput case closely, expresses concern. She said, “Rhea Chakraborty’s media trial is something that should deeply worry all women. There is a way in which [this] woman has been taken out of a particular situation and labelled a criminal by national mainstream media, in Bhojpuri songs, [and] by lawyers on national TV.”


She added, “Rhea Chakraborty was someone who was in a relationship with Sushant Singh Rajput. Clearly the family did not like it – another piece evidence that has crept into the public domain. Let us be clear that there will be lots of evidence that we have absolutely no idea about and those could point to the direction of anyone’s guilt. Why is there such demonisation of this woman? This trope in our minds that family is always right and another person who might have loved Rajput a lot is wrong, there is a gender component to it. Not only is she a woman – she is a particular kind of woman.” According to Nundy, Rajput’s family’s lawyer said in court that by appearing in a video wearing a salwar kameez, Rhea was trying to “whitewash” her image. 

Nundy added, “The implication is that if you’re not wearing a lot of clothes, you are a criminal and if you’re wearing a salwar kameez, it’s a cover-up.”

It shows that no matter what she says or does the verdict has been declared and she’s been found guilty. Her every move is intricately over analysed to affirm her a criminal.

There are a lot of aspects of the the case that the media or people in general are not aware of, yet she is being cornered and attacked by these vultures who proclaim of seeking justice.

Meanwhile it needs to be noted that the family was not on good terms with Rhea. She has also alleged SSR’s sister of groping her at one incident. There are also several ambiguous financial aspects associated with the deceased.

The misogynistic, patriarchal aspect along with the belief that family can never be wrong are the root causes of this targeted slandering. The ambiguity and misinformation surrounding mental health adds fuel to the fire in which Rhea is being grilled right now.

It’s a conventional thinking that the daughter-in-law is the family breaker and is villainized even without any cause. If she’s disliked by the family she automatically becomes the one who robs the family of their son.

This is what is being executed by the media and easily surmised by the hungry masses. Meanwhile the audience needs to dissect and question what they’re being fed and not fall into the diversion traps laid by these media houses.

SSR Case – A Media Circus

Sushant Singh Rajput and Rhea Chakraborty

On June 14, Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead in his Bandra apartment. The same week, Rajput’s father filed a case against co-actor Rhea Chakraborty, accusing her of abetment in his alleged suicide. Rajput’s sister even claimed that Chakraborty, his partner at that time, of practicing black magic.

This was by followed a maelstorm of misreported facts, concocted lies, and sheer entertainment in the name of news. News channels shamelessly ran provocative and derogatory headlines like “Sushant par Rhea ka kaala jaadu” (Rhea’s black magic on Sushant) and “Rhea ke jhooth par kya kehta hai India?” (What does India have to say about Rhea’s lies?) The first code of conduct was broken soon after graphic details about his alleged suicide were discussed like dinner-table gossip.

Dr Soumitra Pathare, the director of the Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy at the Indian Law Society, said, “Media needs to improve its reporting of suicides and attempted suicides in India. We have seen that the media fails to adhere to both the international guidelines for suicide reporting (WHO guidelines) as well as national guidelines from the Press Council of India. Research has shown that responsible media reporting of suicides can reduce suicides by 1-2%. That would mean a saving 2,500-5,000 lives each year.The media needs to use the opportunity to raise awareness about suicide prevention, rather than focus on sensationalising suicide deaths.”

While the Mumbai police was investigating the actor’s death, TV channels were busy running parallel investigations in newsrooms. From reading his personal diary to calling a ‘paranormal expert’ who spoke with his spirit, every week a new narrative was served fresh to equally hungry audiences. First, they vilified the “Bollywood mafia” for plotting against him, then they added an underworld connection to it. But it got worse once the case was transferred to the CBI, the moment which republic TV anchor Arnab Goswami famously referred to as “an incredible moment in our country’s history”. On the same day, the Supreme Court had rejected the plea of students to postpone JEE and NEET exams, saying that “life has to go on”.

From sexist to origin-based slurs, Rhea was subjected to widespread social media hate campaign fuelled by these media channels. They have a tendency to use question marks to rid themselves of making verified claims. For example, saying “Sushant ko Rhea ke jeher ne mara?” or “Riya ne Sushant par kia jaadu tona?” is like saying: “Have the media channels sold their soul to gain more TRPs?” I’m totally not suggesting they have.

More than a decade ago, SMSs did the same job. While the investigation of the Aarushi-Hemraj double murder case was on, media channels were busy asking viewers to send SMSs guessing who the murderer was.

Chakraborty has filed a case with the apex court, saying the ‘media trial’ was attempting to pronounce her guilty of Sushant’s death.“Can freedom of press be allowed to degenerate into a license to malign the character of a dead person? Does our Constitution not guarantee the right to privacy even to the dead?” these were some questiones posed by advocate Surat Singh in 2008 while seeking a restraint on the media while the Talwar investigation was on.The media hasn’t learned any lessons and is showing once again how deaths must not be reported. The real question for any responsible media outlet would be to ask how did news anchors get access to confidential call records, bank statements, WhatsApp messages and post-mortem reports.

Media channels and outlets need to focus more on the actual aspects of the case and other incidents which are equally and maybe far more important to make it to the headlines than dramatise a suicide case disrespecting the deceased and the alive.

It’s high time media outlets need to be more rational and ethical while reporting instead of diverting the limelight in the name of ‘nations emotions are related to this’.