How The Hindu Reports on Male Violence Against Women

Posted bySunil D'MontePosted inUncategorizedTags:

For the last few months, I’ve been taking photos of news reports in The Hindu on male violence against women. The pattern is disheartening.

  • There is never any mention of abuse or domestic violence. Even though it is long recognised that when a man murders his wife/girlfriend, it is the last of a series of violent acts he has committed over years. I.e., he does it within the context of his abuse.
  • Instead, there are various words and phrases used to minimise and wrongly characterise what he has done. Such as: “clashes”, “fights”, “arguing”, “pestering her to marry him”, “quarrel”, “grappling during scuffle”, “ego reasons”, “lost control”, “incident occurred” (17 knife injuries), “sudden provocation during quarrelling”, “fit of rage”, “heated moment”, “during a fight”, “heated argument took an ugly turn”. These phrases insinuate that it’s something that has befallen both of them. But that’s not the case with domestic violence – it is much more than fighting, and it is not a two way street. There is the abuser, and there is the abused.
  • Victim blaming: by putting focus on her actions. “Suspected she was having an affair”, “suspected her fidelity”, “turned down his offer to marry”, “rejected his overtures”.
  • Making excuses for his actions – e.g “financial difficulty”, “issue of salary”.
  • In cases where the man subsequently commits suicide, the paper always puts the number of the Arogyavani 104 Health Helpline at the end. Those in distress or having suicidal tendencies. There is never any domestic violence helpline given. It’s as if they care more about the mental health of the murdering men than their victims.
  • The words of the misogynist police and judges are reproduced, sometimes as quotes, sometimes as the article text itself. What is the responsibility of journalists here? Just to be stenographers writing down what authorities say? Not speaking truth to power? Why don’t they educate themselves about domestic violence? Why don’t they interview domestic violence experts and put their responses to these tropes in the article?

I’ve been a Hindu reader for years now – it’s the “least bad” option when it comes to Indian newspapers. Sadly though, they have a long way to go. Maybe one day we’ll see headlines like “Man Murders Woman; Police and Judge Blame the Victim”.