Editorial
Procrastination in journo murder probe
Simply outrageous
Three months into the gruesome killing of the journalist couple Sagar and Runi, no visible progress has either been made or reported about identifying the killers, leave alone their trial. We are shocked to note that the investigation could not have been handled more abysmally. First came the naive rhetoric from none other than the home minister that law enforcers would find the real criminals in two days. But when that drive fizzled out, from the highest level frustration was expressed to the effect that evidences were lost through over-crowding newsmen at the crime scene. We wonder how an efficient police force could allow anyone to erase the evidences by any stretch of imagination.
Furthermore, when the Detective Branch after two months of investigation admitted failure to find any clue, the case was handed over to Rab officials. They wanted the visceral report and accordingly under court order the couple's dead bodies were exhumed. It came as a double blow to the bereaved family members who were yet to recover from the shock and awaiting justice but it also starkly pointed to the former team of investigators' ineptitude. Why didn't they have the same report done before their burial? As for now, the investigators are still in the dark while the killers remain at large.
Procrastination is thus the natural outcome of this derailed sequence of events. This dithering compounded by a lack of competence is totally unacceptable and is indicative of a gross violation of norms of justice. It brings into sharp focus the security hazards that journalists face while discharging their professional responsibilities. It also impacts their freedom of expression. What is more appalling, the government's failure to identify and arrest the killers will serve to spawn a culture of impunity with which criminals can get away even after killing journalists.
It is the State's responsibility to ensure security to all citizens including the journalists who, in the line of duty, often risk the resentment of persons being exposed. Therefore, we demand the arrest and trial of the killers of Sagar and Runi and a whole host of other journalists. The government should feel sufficiently nudged by the journalists' righteous indignation and conscientious appeal for justice to be done to the victims through exemplary punishment of the killers.
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