Drugs, drinks & drama

PURNIMA LAMCHANE / TNN / Jun 6, 2006, 20:38 IST

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From their flashy lifestyle to their filmi surrender in various TV channel studios, the four boys involved in the Rahul Mahajan case have raised some interesting debates.

From their flashy lifestyle to their filmi surrender in various TV channel studios, the four boys involved in the Rahul Mahajan case have raised some interesting debates.
Trial by media
From chronicler to interventionist. That was the new avatar Indian media took on when the four boys involved in Rahul Mahajan case — including Sahil Zaroo — decided to surrender in TV studios than in front of the police.
While the channels grabbed eyeballs, a debate started taking shape — what if this incident sets a precedent? What if culprits seek this as an ideal way out? Should this be encouraged at all?

"It shouldn't.As it is, these days, there is a virtual trial by the media," says Supreme Court lawyer Pinky Anand. "Such surrenders are a useful exercise when the system is not working like in the Jessica Lall case.
Otherwise, it can hamper the traditional way of working. This cannot become a way of conducting investigations, because sometimes investigating agencies do not necessarily want to reveal all the clues they have — for fear of alerting other suspects."

Says former cop Maxwell Pereira, "Surrendering in front of the camera is not a good thing at all. It doesn't give the accused any advantage," he says. Investigating work will carry on nonetheless, he says, "despite the person who thinks he can sell a story and get public opinion in his favour."
Refraining from commenting on whether surrendering in front of the camera "is a smart move or not — after all, there's nothing legally wrong with this," High Court lawyer Alpana Poddar does think that "the more attention this gets from the media, the more pressure there will be on the investigating officers to solve the case."
Meanwhile, ex-CBI chief Joginder Singh thinks that surrender in full media glare "is a helpful precedent — wherein a person is making a confession straightaway. And why must the investigating officers be thrown off track?
They don't have to treat the confession as the absolute truth. They have to investigate further and fill in the gaps."
Adds Arnab Goswami of Times NOW, "It's time the investigating agencies start thinking why the media is getting these people. And why shouldn't the media get them — it's our job to get whoever is in the news.
Like we got the FIR in the Rahul Mahajan case. The police and the investigating officers must accept the fact that TV journalism will get more and more aggressive by the day."

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