‘We can see cigarettes’: In Delhi hit-and-run, some media questioned victim’s ‘partying’

While the five accused in the Sultanpuri hit-and-run case are suspected to have been drunk at the time of the incident, sections of mainstream TV media on Tuesday instead chose to discuss how drunk the two girls were – one of them died after their scooty was hit by a car driven by the suspects – and how they celebrated New Year’s Eve at a hotel.

The police had earlier told the media that the deceased, Anjali, was not alone at the time of the incident and was accompanied by her friend to the hotel in Delhi on New Year’s Eve. CCTV footage showed the two of them arguing outside the hotel in the early hours of Sunday, before their two-wheeler was hit by a car. As per media reports, Anjali’s friend told the police that she had fled the spot after the incident because she was terrified.

With any forensic report yet to establish if the two women were under the influence of alcohol, some TV news channels resorted to questioning hotel staff to establish that the victim and her friend were intoxicated. And even though the crime was not committed at the hotel, reporters found it newsworthy to check if the girls were drunk enough, if they partied with men, if they visited the same hotel before with men, and what the litter in their room was.

Even the hotel manager had to tell a reporter that he can’t speak about someone’s character – after he was asked if men had come to meet the girls this way the last time they had booked a room, and if the girls arrived with men. 

Misogyny and victim-blaming is not new to television news in cases involving a woman as victim. Sensationalism and moral policing often take centrestage in reportage on such incidents, and the Sultanpuri case is only the latest example. Even in the coverage on the Shraddha Walkar murder case, anchors faulted the victim for making independent choices as an adult woman, commenting on her choice of partner. 

Meanwhile, Swati Maliwal, chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women, also took note of the reportage. “Since the morning, channels have been airing the hotel owner’s cheap statements. He is saying that the girls were drinking, fighting; and I threw them out. If the girls were drunk and fighting, you should have called the police. Why did you throw them out late at night? What is the evidence that they were drunk? Stop victim shaming!” 

However, it must be added that several primetime anchors continued to question the Delhi police. Sudhir Chaudhary, for example, stated on Aaj Tak that it didn’t matter if the victim was drunk or not, and that the Delhi police still had questions to answer on lapses on their part. On Republic TV, Arnab Goswami questioned the probe and also said that the theory of the victim being drunk was being floated so that she could be blamed for driving drunk, and the Delhi Police could possibly use this in order to protect the BJP leader involved.

The editorial yardstick, however, differed in a few other telecasts. Republic Bharat speculated on the “secret” the victim’s friend held. Posing questions to the hotel staff, the channel’s reporter even went to the extent of pointing out that the friend of the deceased had lied to her parents about organising a party while she was actually just a guest in a room herself, quoting hotel staff.

However, the ostensible relevance of these questions was lost on viewers. The hotel staff, at one point, seemed annoyed over repeated queries by Republic Bharat. “Do you have a habit of listening to the same thing twice,” the manager shot back.

The reporter asked the hotel staff, thrice, if the girls were drunk and went on to ask about an alleged fight between the two girls, and how it took place because they were intoxicated. He also found it newsworthy to mention that the hotel staff had informed them how the girls were partying with two men in the same room.

On India Today, meanwhile, a hotel employee told the reporter that the girls were hurling the choicest abuses after which they were told to stop. 

On News18, the anchor said the “secrets of the night” will be revealed by opening the room in which the girls had checked in. The camera zoomed in on cigarette buds and peanut shells. “We can see cigarette buds,” said the reporter, also pointing out hair strands which he said belonged to the two women.

Meanwhile, newspapers like the Indian Express kept the focus on the accident and not what the victim did or not before the incident, with a report on 40 injuries detailing the horror of the night. The Times of India, Hindu, and Hindustan Times also reported what the provisional autopsy report said, and what the victim's friend stated.