SSR Case- A Funeral for Indian Media
Picture a world where everything that is you can be taken apart in one night. Not for a crime or a court’s judgment, but for the destructive force of media hype and political gamesmanship. This is not fantasy – this is the painful truth that transpired in the Sushant Singh Rajput case, a story which not only shattered lives but broke step by step the very principles of justice and honest reporting in India.
The story begins with a tragedy of the untimely death of a brilliant young actor. But what followed was no ordinary narrative of grief and investigation. It was a meticulously orchestrated public execution, where Indian media houses, yes, those who were suppose to talk about real news, transformed themselves from storytellers to executioners, judge, and jury. Every evening, millions of television screens became platforms of character assassination, where innuendo replaced evidence, and speculation masqueraded as truth.
Rhea Chakraborty, the alleged girlfriend, was the focal point of this orchestrated witch hunt. Recall her in the middle of a huge media storm, pushed by the crowd, mics thrown at her face, as she see her private life torn apart so brutally that even witch trials of the past appear tame by comparison. She wasn’t just accused; she was made a symbol – an easy target for every kind of social bigotry. Misogyny found its perfect forum, with television news channels gleefully referring to her using terms that would even make the witch-hunters of the past blush. They referred to her as a “chudail” (witch), as if in an age of superstitious terror instead of a modern democracy.
The machinery of persecution was operating with a cold, calculating efficiency. Political opportunism had its ideal breeding ground. Bihar’s assembly elections offered the ideal setting – a tale of the “innocent small-town boy” brought low by the “immoral big city culture” unfolded like a flawlessly scripted Bollywood tragedy. Only this was not film; this was real life, with real-world consequences.
Social media amplified the spread of fake news as conspiracy theories spread quicker than the virus, with bots as their allies, paid advertisement as their facilitator, and people craving excitement as their consumers. WhatsApp groups and Twitter threads became arenas where facts were irrelevant and groupthink was the order of the day. The line between truth and lie became so thin that the truth suffered.
Let’s talk about the great issue that enabled this to occur. The courts – the one place once respected that was supposed to hold out hope – became merely a means to authorize political and media narratives. Courts that were tasked with protecting personal rights instead aided a system more concerned with sensationalism than equity. Bail was unattainable, and the concept of being innocent until guilty was ascertained – a vital right – was forgotten in a manner that was more terrifying than the charges themselves.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) converted from a law enforcement agency to an entertainment platform for the media. Sameer Wankhede, the then officer, who was the man-in-charge became a renowned investigator, and his actions resembled a television show rather than an actual investigation. Then come the topic of IPS Gagandeep gambhir who was in charge of investigating the SSR case. In no times, the media was quick to find out her husband’s photo with actor Salman Khan and the ‘prime time ran over with headlines as – how could we expect a fair investigation if the officer herself has close connections with Bollywood?’
Bollywood was criticized but not understood. It was in the middle of a premeditated attack on culture. The industry, which traditionally embraced other cultures, was a hotbed of moral corruption. Muslims, drug addicts, and outsiders, all sorts of stereotypes were employed to construct a narrative that was more political than real. The prime time tried to portrayed Bollywood as a drug powerhouse, where as in reality, drugs is no more a luxury to Indians, and the prime-time people already knew that.
What was the scarciest part of all this drama?
Perhaps, it was Rhea Chakraborty.
Tomorrow it might be you or me. No one is secure in today’s India.
The system has reversed from being a tool to protect people to being a menacing entity, where your innocence is of no use if it supports the cause of politics or the media.
In recent, actor Dia Mirza wrote on her Instagram Stories, “Who in the media will have the grace to put out a written apology to Rhea Chakraborthy and her family?” You can say that a bollywood fraternity will support the one from the same community only. But is she wrong? The CBI now cleared all the charges against Ms. Chakraborty. So will this ‘Godi Media’, collectively, will have the courage to apologise to a citizen of India for their witch hunting TRP game?
Even as the dust settles, the damage is deep. The CBI’s final closure report confirming suicide reads almost like a postscript to a tragedy that had already been written. As the industrialist Harsh Goenka’s blunt observation that “journalism died that day” is not exaggeration – it’s a eulogy for an institution that has lost its soul.
We have come to the time when media doesn’t just break news but constructs it. Citizens are treated like pawns by politicians in their game of domination. The people’s voice is more threatening and stronger than real courts of justice.
The Sushant Singh Rajput case is not a story about one person or his family. It is the story of the darkest side of our society. It is a story of a system so broken and morally wrong that the truth is something that only a few can claim.
Finally, we are all victims; not only Rhea Chakraborty’s and Sushant Singh Rajput’s families, but all of us, WE THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, who believe in the purity of truth, the promise of justice, and the fundamental right to be considered innocent!
Welcome to the new India, where your very existence can be breaking news, your reality can be used to collect ratings, and your innocence is merely an expense in a system that has lost the ability to be kind.
