Amidst the flood crisis occurring in different parts of the country, especially Chittagong, due to excessive rain, another horrific news surfaced about the murder of Nirjona, a 16-year-old girl in Khulna, who was found stuffed in a plastic sack in the streets last week. After identification and interrogation, the mother of the girl finally confessed that she was murdered by her father in the middle of a domestic quarrel, which was allegedly due to the fact that she had relationships with multiple boys. Police have also alleged that both the mother and father are drug addicts, and the father was under the influence of drugs when he hit her, leading to her death.
While the investigation continues, it is worth highlighting how the news media have covered this particular news through their social media handles, and what the response of a portion of Bangladeshi citizens has been. The coverage and response are important in understanding how deep the rot of moral policing on women has become.
Most of the news media, including bite-sized news media, highlighted the fact that the victim had multiple relationships and included that in their title. This choice of coverage, intentionally or unintentionally, makes the victim’s character more important than the victim. Having multiple relationships might be a moral failure, but that does not in any way justify the gruesome murder in any situation. By invoking the victim’s character, the media have fallen into the trap of sensationalising a crime. It shifts the blame from the perpetrators implicitly and puts it on the victim for having “unethical” behaviour.
Media experts have long argued against this sort of coverage, especially against sensationalising sexual assault and rape incidents. But as this event shows, the practice has persisted, and character assassination of victims still occurs. This sensationalisation harms the victim even more. Justice becomes elusive because society considers the victim not as a “proper” victim, but a corrupt human being for whom no one should feel any sense of empathy. But it must be remembered that no amount of moral failures makes any citizen less worthy of justice, and the media must refrain from practising this cheap sensationalism to ensure that.
As horrific as the news was, more horrific was the fact that most of the responses in the comment section of the news were supportive of the parents’ decision, as most news media did not mention the drug addiction of the parents, but rather highlighted the fact that she had been in multiple relationships. The majority of the comment section celebrated the murder as an honour killing. The victim was slutshamed by most, and there were encouragements for more parents to do the same. It is worth remembering that the victim was a minor, and that did not deter anyone from making abusive statements.
This, again, openly exposes the blatant misogyny of Bangladeshi citizens, predominantly male. The comments made under this news were not limited to slutshaming, but they were, in many cases, generalised to claiming that every school- or college-going girl is “characterless”, and they should be barred from moving freely outside, or else parents should take such drastic decisions as were taken with Nirjona. The amount of moral policing and victim blaming is staggering. It seems that if the victim is female and she is not morally flawless, she does not deserve any rights or justice. This sort of moral policing in the cases of female victims is not new or unheard of, however. There have been multiple instances where rape victims have accused the lawyers and judges in the courts of engaging in character assassination and questioning their lifestyle choices to twist the narrative of the case.
The media trial of Nirjona exposes how we fall into the trap of imagining the perfect victim for ourselves. Imagining morally perfect victims makes it easier for us to empathise with them. But law and human rights do not depend on moral superiority or inferiority, it depends on the simple recognition of the fact that the victim is a human being and is deserving of justice.
To ensure proper justice for everyone, the media and the citizens of Bangladesh must remember that human rights and law are for everyone, regardless of their gender, age, religion, class, and, in this case, lifestyle choices. Failing to uphold a traditional moral dictum by an individual does not constitute sufficient grounds for a crime against them – this is a lesson we must understand.
The news media in Bangladesh should be much more sensitive, and they must avoid the trap of cheap sensationalism of criminal activities. They must not take part in victim blaming and character assassination of victims while covering the news. These are impediments to ensuring proper justice for the victim. Bangladesh must deliver proper justice for Nirjona and ensure that the trial does not engage in character assassination to dismiss the case.
Sadman Ahmed Siam is an independent columnist and a student at the Islamic University of Technology.
