Opinion

Mr Dharker, with all due respect to your views, a poor girl working as a domestic help is alleging that her employer raped her. It's not about whether she is proved correct. It's already been proved by medical tests that she was raped. Additionally, the police have said Shiney admitted having "consensual" sex, which means he had sex with her. The media, instead of focusing on the plight of the poor girl, is busy getting bytes from Anupam Ahuja, Shiney Ahuja's wife. What could be more deplorable?

I have been reading articles in the media on how the guy should get the benefit of the doubt. Why don't you ask the girl who was raped and her parents if she wants to give him that?

Why is the media focusing so much on Anupam, who wasn't there at the scene of the crime and would naturally defend her husband? She even wants the girl's background checked. Anupam Ahuja has a daughter. If the victim were her daughter, would she still defend an alleged rapist? I ask every woman in this country and every parent of a girl: if it had been their daughter, would they still want to give the accused the benefit of the doubt?

I fully agree with you. Let me tell you an instance during my childhood, about 50 years ago. A servant of ours got pregnant. In the old days we had servant quarters, but all of a sudden she used to drag her mattress to the verandah where we slept in the summers. I was a kid, but my late brother had just matured, I think. He was just a year older to me. When she was admonished and told to go to her own quarters, she took leave the next day and went home. She did not return. Enquiries revealed that she had been hacked to death by her husband after he caught her having an affair with her paramour.

Nothing short of genetic fingerprinting should be used to tell whether the abortus or baby [if she wishes to continue the pregnancy] has the shiny pattern [not meant literally].

In another instance I know, a nurse was removed from service from the hospital of a colleague. She took revenge with the help of some local goons, walked into his room and shouted rape. The poor man has not yet recovered from the setback in his practice.

Mr Ahuja is not a fool. Give him some credit till it is proved otherwise. In short, don't make a hoopla of it and crucify him, unless he is guilty.

Here comes once again a Page 3 type guy, who is writing everything sitting in air-conditioned comfort. It's quite possible that cops leaked the news, but if the media had been not there, this case would have been buried by now. The maid is from a poor family, she hardly stands a chance if left alone. The media is doing the right thing by supporting her.

This is for bigots such as AH. The point being made by Dharker is that Ahuja has been pronounced guilty without so much as a trial. And you are echoing the same point in your emotional, biased comment. The day we stop giving an accused the benefit of doubt until he is proved guilty is the day we become a tyrant nation. Maybe that is already happening.

You talked about the maid. Now, for a moment, assume that your son were in Ahuja's place, and just suppose the sexual act was indeed consensual (not at all an unlikely event in itself; millions of people do it everyday). How would you feel if your son were accused of rape, and people go around in the streets demanding that he be hanged? How would the accused man feel?

Ahuja's being a man belonging to a more influential section of society and the alleged victim being a woman from a lower class doesn't automatically make him guilty. You would do well to remember that. Breast-beating and howling in public are not the signs of a mature individual or a mature democracy. And as for your benefit of doubt, giving that to Ahuja is not the right of the maid. It is the duty of the police, administration, judiciary, and any civilized society.

In response to AH's comments. I agree the wife was not present during the alleged rape, but were you? Was anyone? All the 'evidence' you cite is from conflicting tabloids whose job is to create a sensation. It is possible he raped her. It is also possible they had consensual intercourse. And of course, this could be extortion. I agree with the author. He has to be found guilty in a court of law before passing these silly judgments.

Why accuse anyone until and unless proven guilty? Gotta get the facts right before accusing someone. It's not yet proven if Shiney is guilty. I feel sorry for the girl if he really did it. It could be a frame-up as well. Anything is possible... as per our history.

Excellent analysis by Mr Dharker. The NCW has become a tool for creating rifts between men and women. If there has to be an organization, then it must be the National Commission for Gender Issues which pays attention to both men and women, not just women.

IPC 498A PWDVA and maintenance and child custody laws have been misused by unscrupulous women for personal vendetta.

Trial by media and police is a dangerous trend for both the victim and the alleged criminal. It has to be restrained at any cost. The judiciary should take a tough stand.

Dharker's observations may not be welcomed by the committed media for reasons of TRP ratings and, equally, by the police.

This is in response to people who have responded to me. I agree that I wasn't there when the alleged rape took place. But the point I'm making is that Anupam Ahuja being a celebrity's wife can call for press conferences whereas the poor maid cannot buy media space in the same way. Anupam can brainwash people into believing that Shiney didn't do it. But what happens to rape victims who don't have similar media clout? Who will be their voices? I think this is a pertinent point, which everyone must think about.

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