Adnan’s murder case: public becoming investigators, judges

Aug 24: Adnan’s murder is being attributed to the over activity of media. Opinion in air is that TV channels highlighted the matter so much that it created the panic among the abductors and they killed the boy. Even Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, R R Patil ordered to find out the identity of the police personnel who informed TV news channel about the episode of the kidnapping of teenager.

This is not enough. Even the communities proliferated on the social networking site ‘Orkut’ paying homage to Adnan conducted an opinion poll which held media responsible for his death.

While blaming media for the murder of Adnan people forgot that it is the job of media to inform people about the happenings of surrounding. And there have been innumerable cases where cases have been solved or people have been saved due to the activity of media only and several times abducted child reached home. It has been quite unfortunate that this time it turned out to be otherwise.

The point is that criminal cases can not be solved by being swayed with the public feeling or anger. Everybody feels sorry for the unfortunate event but we have to be patient and responsible citizens. What a small section believes may not be truth (as has been reported on the opinion poll result shown on the site that 54% believe that media played a role in Adnan’s death). This is not election opinion polls. Emotional behaviour may hamper proper investigation.

The claim of finding out the profile of Sujit Nair (an accused in the murder case) on Orkut and pouring his profile with condemning messages without verification is no responsible and rational move from any angle. We should definitely contribute to the investigations but this may not bring undue problem for one who is no party to the matter.

Any decision or judgement needs investigation from police. It is better not to affect the investigation by the upsurge of feelings.

Determination of the punishment for the crime is the job of judiciary and not the public. If we want to pay serious tribute to the teenager we should help police in rational manner and not by cashing the sentiments of people.