This week I could not stop myself or rather “hold” myself (pun unintended) and had planned to pen my observation(s) on how our “distant cousins” or rather the smarter and much active members of our community or rather the media fraternity in the larger context, especially the electronic ones, went berserk over something that could have been avoided.
The suspense thriller or rather the “susupense” over ferrying Atiq Ahmed from Gujarat to Prayaraj in Uttar Pradesh was watered down or rather “peed down” to the number of times a man could actually relieve himself and on what made him pee that much kept the harried anchors worried till Atiq reached his destination.
I doubt whether even God knows what goes on behind the closed doors during the deliberation(s) to “create” news to reap and whip up TRP(EE) and doing so it would be advisable for the learned journos to think whether the public would “consume” such stuff. Sometimes when all channels keep showing the same script, the poor viewers are either force-fed or have 101 other options to switch over to some other channel… folks… next time you do this, beware and keep in mind the IPL’s slam game is much more entertaining or rather incomparable to the high decibel charcha on TV.
Imagine, how much can we fall from grace when the man sitting in the studio tells his crew on Ground Zero to zoom in on a man who is relieving himself that too in the open.
I remember in 2017, we had received a manual which said that women, instead of going to the gyms, should be doing household chores like using the chakki to prepare the flour, mopping the floor (in the old manner with a bucket of water and a pochha) to stay fit. The manual had created a furore and print editions had dilemma about how to use the word chakki in the headline. Keeping Dharmendra’s famous Sholay dialogue in mind… Some papers churned out headlines which read, “Manual says go in for “chakki pissing” to stay fit. The word woman was avoided on the headline… even then… way back in 2017 readers reacted furiously on the usage. Six years later, live coverage of pissing is the national headlines!!! Imagine what things have come to.
I must mention that huffing and puffing reporters (like it’s the end of the world) were running around the prison van in which Atiq was being ferried and when it reached a petrol pump, the bandwagon of stressed reporters even said… “Abhi yeh prison van petrol pump refuelling ke liye aaye hain.”
Thanks to over-demanding editors and producers, the stressed man on the ground is at a loss of words and seems to look clueless.
The Atiq case
I also thought as a “newsman” I need to inform in my column about the case even as the Pee quotient has been too overtaking.
Atiq travelled 1200km from Ahmedabad to Prayagraj as he was transferred in the Umesh Pal murder case. Before getting into the prison van, Atiq had expressed fear that he would be killed by the UP police team. “Hatya, hatya (murder, murder)…Mujhe inka programme maloom hai…Hatya karna chahte hain (I know their programme…They want to murder me),” he was heard saying.
Atiq has been lodged in Sabarmati Central Jail since June 2019. The SC directed the transfer of Atiq to a high-security jail in Gujarat on charges of kidnapping and assaulting a businessman while in prison.
He pleaded not to keep him in UP jails, saying there was a threat to his life. He is being taken to Prayagraj, where he will appear in a 2006 case before the court. He will be questioned in the Umesh Pal murder case.
Atiq is named in over 100 criminal cases which include the recent Umesh murder case, police said. Raju Pal, the MLA from the BSP was shot dead in 2005. Umesh, a key witness, was gunned down outside his residence in Prayagraj on February 24 this year.
PRISON VAN HITS COW
Atiq experienced a scary moment early Monday morning, when a police van ferrying him to Prayagraj in UP hit a cow and almost overturned in Shivpuri while crossing through Madhya Pradesh.
According to information, the incident occurred at 6.25 am, when a cow ran across the road and the police vehicle carrying Ahmed hit it. The animal fell near the road divider while the police van swerved across the road before the driver stopped the vehicle for a moment, and then drove ahead on its way.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
VIKAS DUBEY ENCOUNTER – 2020
Gangster Vikas Dubey was killed in an encounter on July 10, 2020, when a police vehicle carrying him from Ujjain to Kanpur met with an accident and he tried to escape from the spot in Bhauti area, the police said.
RECENT PROMINENT ENCOUNTERS IN UP
July 10, 2020: Vikas Dubey was killed in an encounter in Kanpur. The encounter broke out after a police vehicle carrying Dubey from Ujjain to Kanpur overturned and the gangster tried to escape.
July 25, 2020: Gangster Tinku Kapala, who had a bounty of Rs 1 lakh on him, was killed in a joint operation by UP Police and STF in Barabanki.
October 18, 2021: Bangladeshi gangster Hamza was killed in an encounter with UP police in Gomti Nagar.
February 21, 2021: The main accused of the Kasganj murder case, Moti Singh, was killed in an encounter by the police. Moti had allegedly killed a constable of the Sidhpura police station and injured a sub-inspector in Kasganj.
September 30, 2022: Gangster Vinod Kumar Singh, carrying Rs 1 lakh bounty, was killed during an exchange of fire between him and Jaunpur police under Badlapur police station.
March 21, 2022: A criminal carrying a bounty of Rs 2 lakh on his head was killed in exchange of fire with the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force in Varanasi rural. Manish Singh alias Sonu had 32 cases in his name, including seven cases of murder, five of attempt to murder and others of loot, dacoity and robbery.
TOTAL ENCOUNTERS IN UP
8 As per news reports, UP Police gunned down as many as 178 listed criminals in exchange of fire since March 2017. Most carried cash rewards ranging from Rs 75,000 to Rs 5 lakh on their arrest.
8 At least every 13th day, a listed criminal was killed in a police encounter in the State in the past six years.
8 Police have arrested 23,069 criminals following encounters between March 20, 2017 and March 6, 2023, of which 4,911 were injured. ADG, law and order, Prashant Kumar said that during the exchange of fire, as many as 15 cops laid down their lives while another 1,424 policemen sustained bullet injuries.
8 According to the UP Police dossier, 28 criminals were eliminated in police encounters in 2017, 41 in 2018, 34 in 2019, and 26 each in 2020 and 2021, 14 in 2022. This year, nine have been eliminated in police encounters till March 6.
(Robin Roy is senior journalist and former Senior Associate Editor, O Heraldo, Goa)