A high-profile death of a teenager exposes Kolkata’s self-conceit
The city takes pride in its progressive liberalism. But the media coverage of a recent tragedy has revealed a conflicted society prone to moral highhandedness.
A teenager’s death has brought out an ugly side of the Kolkata media that thrives on generated controversy and has exposed societal fissures that have always existed but are rarely spoken about.
On July 23, a 17-year-old boy was found bleeding from multiple injuries at a residential complex in an elite South Calcutta neighbourhood. He had just attended a birthday lunch for author Amit Chaudhuri’s daughter, who lives in the same complex. The boy, Abesh Dasgupta, succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital, despite Chaudhuri’s attempts to save his life.
From the moment the incident was reported, the media and its readership decided it was murder. And that, everyone, all the teenagers at the gathering and their parents, were shielding an influential suspect.
Dasgupta’s mother had the assurance of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself of a speedy and impartial investigation headed by a top bureaucrat. Members of the film industry – many of whom are close to the ruling party – expressed solidarity with the inconsolable single mother and demanded justice. Dasgupta’s father, who was a member of the Kolkata police and an assistant director to Satyajit Ray’s son Sandip Ray, had died earlier this year.
Veneer of inclusivity
What has followed since then is crime porn masquerading as reportageand social media outrage that shows how Kolkata, which takes pride in its airs of plurality, inclusivity and progressive liberalism, is actually a conflicted, provincial society prone to nativism and moral highhandedness. It also showed how the local media has engineered a protracted hate campaign – masquerading as moral outrage and fierce investigation – against a certain section of society. Here is how it unfolded.
The first victim of this cycle of sensationalism was the author himself. The party, according to his statement and corroborated by the others involved, was a surprise celebration for his teenaged daughter organised by her friends. The Chaudhuris had not organised their own celebration since the author's mother had died only recently.
After the bunch of teenagers had lunch at a venue outside, they broke up into smaller groups, and a few of the boys hung around the complex, drinking. Details of what really happened during those crucial minutes, when Chaudhuri’s daughter and the other children dispersed, are still under investigation. But the police have established that the dead boy was not really abandoned by his friends – all of them students of elite schools and from affluent families – as several media reports had claimed. Dasgupta’s friends performed CPR, one boy took off his shirt to dress the wounds, someone else dialled 100 and no one really left him to bleed to death.
Initial news reports, however, painted a graphic picture of how the wounds could have been inflicted with a broken bottle and how circumstantial evidence indicated that a bleeding Dasgupta had tried to drag himself around to get help while his friends fled the scene. The police have not been able to establish any truth in these reports.
Some of the reportage has been breathless and intrusive. One reporter landed up at Chaudhuri’s flat when he was not there and remarked how the family that was “allegedly grieving the demise of Chaudhuri’s mother a week earlier and hosted the boy who died” had decorated the house with colourful balloons – though the police found only a few black and white balloons in the daughter's bedroom. A photographer sneaked in with the police and shot pictures of Chaudhuri’s living room. Some posts on social media demanded that it would be necessary for Chaudhuri to be arrested if the truth was to be revealed.
From day one, reports based largely on hearsay and inputs from anxious parents and panicky teens directly or indirectly involved with the incident claimed Dasgupta was the victim of a love triangle. The media and social persecution of the children at the party, their families and their extended friend circle left no room for objectivity.
'Bengali ethos under attack'
The girl involved in the so-called triangle, who was not present at the party, wrote an emotional piece in a tabloid, pledging support to the cause of justice. She also stated that she had no clue the relationship was serious enough to cause a death. The media, of course, did not stop at that. The love triangle theory seemed so exciting that everyone went all out to establish it. The father of the so-called accused boy had played a suspicious role, said an article.
The reporters who landed up at the teenage suspect’s home wondered: “How come the family has left home if they have nothing to hide?” One news channel interrogated one of the boys and splashed the headline “Why did Abesh’s friend gulp nervously before answering questions?”
All the 16 teenagers were grist for gossip, their lives fodder for the tabloids that churned out unverified reports, influencing the narrative that took on a different, uglier turn. It soon became less about the exact details of the tragic incident and more about “rich boys” and how they are “ruining vulnerable middle-class boys”. “These underage rich kids,” claimed an unnamed employee at the liquor store from where the boys had bought their alcohol, “waited in their cars and sent their chauffeurs to buy”.
It became more about morality and the “unostentatious, frugal Bengali ethos” under attack and less about the truth. A parental advisory from an elite Kolkata convent began doing the rounds – it spoke of spa vacations and lavish birthday parties that are damaging to children. The mayor, whose niece was involved in a drunken brawl with a policeman last year, shot off an angry post on Facebook questioning the way parents are bringing up their children.
In the tune of the shrill tabloid-style reporting that continued, some parents slammed Dasgupta’s mother for allowing her son to “party with the debauched rich kids” and “daring to demand justice”. Others questioned the affluent parents who had failed to instil “right moral and social values” in their children. One woman declared: “This is an ethnic war.” Meaning, the Bengalis were under attack from the “Non-Bengalis” (the so-called suspect is not a Bengali). Pop psychologists wrote reams about “when to say no” and “why kids are growing up this way”.
The moral juggernaut received a rude jolt when the police began to establish that the incident, as corroborated from the versions of all the children at the party, their phone records and available CCTV footage, that it was perhaps an accident and not murder as everyone wanted to believe.
Kolkata is still not convinced.
Insightful, very insightful. And that phrase, 'crime porn masquerading as reportage and social media outrage', how often do we see it these days?
An incident that should have been treated as just another accident/crime has been elevated to a status commensurate with the socio-economic status of the parents. Is it some kind of act that has shaken the faith in humanity or charred the soul of the nation or the victim belongs to a class that is systematically denied justice? The answer to all of the above question is no. This unravels the class divide that is way too obvious in a society that masquerades as egalitarian or at least as pretends to be the harbinger of egalitarianism. Yet this phenomenon has been all too familiar. Remember Arushi or Indrani cases. Some lives are more equal than others it seems.
And then there is another layer is added by the media through live trials, exaggerations, hair-splitting and TRP race, very aptly described in this article above.
From Henrik Larsson to Djibril Cisse, football has seen its fair share of terrible injuries. WARNING: Graphic images
Getty Images
Bordeaux' French forward Jeremy Menez (C) is treated by medical staff after being injured by Lorient's Didier Ndong during the friendly football match Bordeaux vs Lorient on August 3, 2016 in Sarzeau, western France.
But while it will leave him with a few grams less listening equipment, it isn't going to stop him from playing for too long.
When compared to the worst injuries we've seen in football, it's little more than a scratch.
Where does he feature in our list of the 10 of the worst football injuries we can remember?
Nowhere - check these out.
10) Luke Shaw - PSV v Man Utd, September 15, 2015
John Peters
EINDHOVEN, NETHERLANDS - SEPTEMBER 15: Luke Shaw of Manchester United receives treatment on a leg injury during the UEFA Champions League match between PSV Eindhoven and Manchester United at Philips Stadion on September 15, 2015 in Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Photo by John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images)
The Manchester United and England defender was out of action for 10 months after suffering the appalling injury in a Champions League game.
Recovery: Shaw made his comeback in a 2-0 friendly win at Wigan in mid-July and is now hoping to kickstart his Red Devils career under Jose Mourinho.
9) Alan Smith - Liverpool v Manchester United, February 18, 2006
Getty
Described by Sir Alex Ferguson as one of the worst injuries he’d ever seen, Smith broke his left leg and dislocated his ankle after landing awkwardly while blocking a John Arne Riise free-kick.
Recognising the severity of his injury, the fiery former Leeds star was given an unlikely ovation by many of the Liverpool fans as he was stretchered off the pitch.
Recovery: Smith was out of action for seven months.
8) Kieron Dyer - Bristol Rovers v West Ham, August 18, 2007
Getty
Dyer has never been a stranger to the treatment table, but easily the most serious injury of his career came in August three years ago.
Acting as further evidence that his legs may actually be made of glass, injury-prone Dyer, who had only joined the Hammers from Newcastle three weeks earlier, broke his right leg in two places following a nasty tackle from Rovers left-back Joe Jacobson.
The incident took place just 10 minutes into the Carling Cup second-round tie at the Memorial Stadium.
Recovery: Dyer has played just 16 times for the Hammers since and there have been stories that he will be forced to retire.
7) Djibril Cisse - Blackburn v Liverpool, October 30, 2004
Getty
Horror injuries have become almost as big a trademark for French forward Cisse as his eye-catching hairstyles.
Cisse's first leg break happened at Ewood Park while playing for the Reds. He managed to fracture both the tibia and fibula of his left leg not a result of a tackle, but rather from an awkward fall after the striker caught his blade boots in the turf.
Two years later, unbelievably, he was forced to miss the World Cup finals after shattering his right leg during a pre-tournament warm-up clash against China.
Recovery: If it's possible for there to be a plus side to breaking your leg, it does appear that Cisse is something of a miracle man when it comes to recovering from such blows. On each occasion, he was out of action for just seven months.
6) Luc Nilis - Aston Villa v Ipswich, September 9, 2000
Getty
Villa fans had high hopes for experienced Belgian striker Nilis when he joined them from PSV Eindhoven on a free transfer shortly before the start of the 2000-01 season.
However, that hope was sadly short-lived. Nilis played just three times in the Premier League for Villa, with the last of those appearances lasting just four minutes before he sustained a double fracture of his right leg following a collision with Ipswich keeper Richard Wright.
Recovery: Nilis was forced to announce his retirement four months later.
5) Eduardo - Birmingham v Arsenal, September 23, 2008
Getty
Almost exactly two years to the day before Ramsey's horror injury, Eduardo suffered a terrible leg break following a tackle by Birmingham's Martin Taylor. As well as breaking his left fibula, the striker's injury was further complicate by an open dislocation of his let ankle.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger initially called for Taylor to be banned for the challenge, although he later retracted those comments.
Recovery: Eduardo was out for a week shy of a year before he returned in an FA Cup tie against Cardiff. In that match, he pulled a hamstring!
4) Petr Cech - Reading v Chelsea, October 14, 2006
Getty
Proving that it’s not just outfield players who are at risk when playing the beautiful game, Chelsea goalkeeper Cech nearly lost his life following a controversial challenge from Reading's Stephen Hunt.
Cech was left severely concussed after being kneed in the head by the Irish midfielder and collapsed in the dressing room after being carried from the playing area.
Amid fears he had suffered a blood clot, the giant keeper was rushed to the Royal Berkshire Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery for a depressed fractured of the skull.
Recovery: After originally being told he would be out of football for at least a year, Cech made a miraculous return to the Chelsea first team just three months later. The Czech stopper now wears a rugby-style head guard when playing that protects the areas of his skull weakened by the collision.
3) Alf Inge Haaland - Man United v Man City, April 21, 2001
Getty
Roy Keane’s knee-high horror lunge on the Norwegian in the Manchester derby earned him a red card, a five-game suspension and a £150,000 fine.
Keane later revealed in his autobiography that it was premeditated revenge after he suffered a season-ending injury while trying to foul Haaland, then at Leeds, in a match four years earlier.
Recovery: After numerous attempts at a comeback, Haaland was forced to accept retirement in July 2003.
2) Patrick Battiston - France v West Germany, July 8, 1982
Getty
Midfielder Battiston was clean through on goal with only the keeper to beat in the second half of this World Cup semi-final match in Seville, when he was poleaxed by German stopper Harald Schumacher.
Not so much a challenge for the ball as an assault, Schumacher somehow managed to escape unpunished for an aerial bodycheck that left the French star in a coma.
Widely considered one of the most shocking fouls in footballing history, Battiston suffered damaged vertebrae, a broken jaw and the loss of four of his front teeth.
Recovery: After his jaw was wired back into place, Battiston returned to work for his club Saint Etienne five months later.
1) David Busst - Manchester United v Coventry City, April 8, 1996
Getty
Arguably the most infamous of footballing injuries.
While the BBC and Sky refrained from showing the stomach-churning effects of the Coventry defender's collision with Manchester United defender Denis Irwin, the look of horror on United keeper Peter Schmeichel's face painted a vivid picture of just how serious the injury was.
Busst suffered a double compound fracture with the impact of the clash causing his cracked fibula bone to pierce the skin.
The match had to be delayed for 15 minutes while the blood was cleaned off the pitch at Old Trafford, while Schmeichel had to undergo counselling for a number of weeks following the incident.
Recovery: Busst never played professionally again. Having faced the very real prospect of having his injured leg amputated, it's likely he felt grateful for being at least able to walk.
Seriously, the frequency with which footballers are suffering from horrendous injuries on the field (not the least in India), I think we should open a thread 'Career threatening injuries suffered by footballers'
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A high-profile death of a teenager exposes Kolkata’s self-conceit
The city takes pride in its progressive liberalism. But the media coverage of a recent tragedy has revealed a conflicted society prone to moral highhandedness.
A teenager’s death has brought out an ugly side of the Kolkata media that thrives on generated controversy and has exposed societal fissures that have always existed but are rarely spoken about.
On July 23, a 17-year-old boy was found bleeding from multiple injuries at a residential complex in an elite South Calcutta neighbourhood. He had just attended a birthday lunch for author Amit Chaudhuri’s daughter, who lives in the same complex. The boy, Abesh Dasgupta, succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital, despite Chaudhuri’s attempts to save his life.
From the moment the incident was reported, the media and its readership decided it was murder. And that, everyone, all the teenagers at the gathering and their parents, were shielding an influential suspect.
Dasgupta’s mother had the assurance of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself of a speedy and impartial investigation headed by a top bureaucrat. Members of the film industry – many of whom are close to the ruling party – expressed solidarity with the inconsolable single mother and demanded justice. Dasgupta’s father, who was a member of the Kolkata police and an assistant director to Satyajit Ray’s son Sandip Ray, had died earlier this year.
Veneer of inclusivity
What has followed since then is crime porn masquerading as reportage and social media outrage that shows how Kolkata, which takes pride in its airs of plurality, inclusivity and progressive liberalism, is actually a conflicted, provincial society prone to nativism and moral highhandedness. It also showed how the local media has engineered a protracted hate campaign – masquerading as moral outrage and fierce investigation – against a certain section of society. Here is how it unfolded.
The first victim of this cycle of sensationalism was the author himself. The party, according to his statement and corroborated by the others involved, was a surprise celebration for his teenaged daughter organised by her friends. The Chaudhuris had not organised their own celebration since the author's mother had died only recently.
After the bunch of teenagers had lunch at a venue outside, they broke up into smaller groups, and a few of the boys hung around the complex, drinking. Details of what really happened during those crucial minutes, when Chaudhuri’s daughter and the other children dispersed, are still under investigation. But the police have established that the dead boy was not really abandoned by his friends – all of them students of elite schools and from affluent families – as several media reports had claimed. Dasgupta’s friends performed CPR, one boy took off his shirt to dress the wounds, someone else dialled 100 and no one really left him to bleed to death.
Initial news reports, however, painted a graphic picture of how the wounds could have been inflicted with a broken bottle and how circumstantial evidence indicated that a bleeding Dasgupta had tried to drag himself around to get help while his friends fled the scene. The police have not been able to establish any truth in these reports.
Some of the reportage has been breathless and intrusive. One reporter landed up at Chaudhuri’s flat when he was not there and remarked how the family that was “allegedly grieving the demise of Chaudhuri’s mother a week earlier and hosted the boy who died” had decorated the house with colourful balloons – though the police found only a few black and white balloons in the daughter's bedroom. A photographer sneaked in with the police and shot pictures of Chaudhuri’s living room. Some posts on social media demanded that it would be necessary for Chaudhuri to be arrested if the truth was to be revealed.
From day one, reports based largely on hearsay and inputs from anxious parents and panicky teens directly or indirectly involved with the incident claimed Dasgupta was the victim of a love triangle. The media and social persecution of the children at the party, their families and their extended friend circle left no room for objectivity.
'Bengali ethos under attack'
The girl involved in the so-called triangle, who was not present at the party, wrote an emotional piece in a tabloid, pledging support to the cause of justice. She also stated that she had no clue the relationship was serious enough to cause a death. The media, of course, did not stop at that. The love triangle theory seemed so exciting that everyone went all out to establish it. The father of the so-called accused boy had played a suspicious role, said an article.
The reporters who landed up at the teenage suspect’s home wondered: “How come the family has left home if they have nothing to hide?” One news channel interrogated one of the boys and splashed the headline “Why did Abesh’s friend gulp nervously before answering questions?”
All the 16 teenagers were grist for gossip, their lives fodder for the tabloids that churned out unverified reports, influencing the narrative that took on a different, uglier turn. It soon became less about the exact details of the tragic incident and more about “rich boys” and how they are “ruining vulnerable middle-class boys”. “These underage rich kids,” claimed an unnamed employee at the liquor store from where the boys had bought their alcohol, “waited in their cars and sent their chauffeurs to buy”.
It became more about morality and the “unostentatious, frugal Bengali ethos” under attack and less about the truth. A parental advisory from an elite Kolkata convent began doing the rounds – it spoke of spa vacations and lavish birthday parties that are damaging to children. The mayor, whose niece was involved in a drunken brawl with a policeman last year, shot off an angry post on Facebook questioning the way parents are bringing up their children.
In the tune of the shrill tabloid-style reporting that continued, some parents slammed Dasgupta’s mother for allowing her son to “party with the debauched rich kids” and “daring to demand justice”. Others questioned the affluent parents who had failed to instil “right moral and social values” in their children. One woman declared: “This is an ethnic war.” Meaning, the Bengalis were under attack from the “Non-Bengalis” (the so-called suspect is not a Bengali). Pop psychologists wrote reams about “when to say no” and “why kids are growing up this way”.
The moral juggernaut received a rude jolt when the police began to establish that the incident, as corroborated from the versions of all the children at the party, their phone records and available CCTV footage, that it was perhaps an accident and not murder as everyone wanted to believe.
Kolkata is still not convinced.
Insightful, very insightful. And that phrase, 'crime porn masquerading as reportage and social media outrage', how often do we see it these days?
And then there is another layer is added by the media through live trials, exaggerations, hair-splitting and TRP race, very aptly described in this article above.
Made my day
10 worst football injuries: Jeremy Menez' torn ear looks bad but it's nothing compared to THESE
From Henrik Larsson to Djibril Cisse, football has seen its fair share of terrible injuries. WARNING: Graphic images
Some injuries look bad, and some injures ARE bad.
We all winced at the pictures of Jeremy Menez' torn ear, suffered on his debut for Bordeaux last night.
But while it will leave him with a few grams less listening equipment, it isn't going to stop him from playing for too long.
When compared to the worst injuries we've seen in football, it's little more than a scratch.
Where does he feature in our list of the 10 of the worst football injuries we can remember?
Nowhere - check these out.
10) Luke Shaw - PSV v Man Utd, September 15, 2015
Shaw admitted he feared he may never play again after suffering this horrific double leg break.
The Manchester United and England defender was out of action for 10 months after suffering the appalling injury in a Champions League game.
Recovery: Shaw made his comeback in a 2-0 friendly win at Wigan in mid-July and is now hoping to kickstart his Red Devils career under Jose Mourinho.
9) Alan Smith - Liverpool v Manchester United, February 18, 2006
Described by Sir Alex Ferguson as one of the worst injuries he’d ever seen, Smith broke his left leg and dislocated his ankle after landing awkwardly while blocking a John Arne Riise free-kick.
Recognising the severity of his injury, the fiery former Leeds star was given an unlikely ovation by many of the Liverpool fans as he was stretchered off the pitch.
Recovery: Smith was out of action for seven months.
8) Kieron Dyer - Bristol Rovers v West Ham, August 18, 2007
Dyer has never been a stranger to the treatment table, but easily the most serious injury of his career came in August three years ago.
Acting as further evidence that his legs may actually be made of glass, injury-prone Dyer, who had only joined the Hammers from Newcastle three weeks earlier, broke his right leg in two places following a nasty tackle from Rovers left-back Joe Jacobson.
The incident took place just 10 minutes into the Carling Cup second-round tie at the Memorial Stadium.
Recovery: Dyer has played just 16 times for the Hammers since and there have been stories that he will be forced to retire.
7) Djibril Cisse - Blackburn v Liverpool, October 30, 2004
Horror injuries have become almost as big a trademark for French forward Cisse as his eye-catching hairstyles.
Cisse's first leg break happened at Ewood Park while playing for the Reds. He managed to fracture both the tibia and fibula of his left leg not a result of a tackle, but rather from an awkward fall after the striker caught his blade boots in the turf.
Two years later, unbelievably, he was forced to miss the World Cup finals after shattering his right leg during a pre-tournament warm-up clash against China.
Recovery: If it's possible for there to be a plus side to breaking your leg, it does appear that Cisse is something of a miracle man when it comes to recovering from such blows. On each occasion, he was out of action for just seven months.
See the next post!!
6) Luc Nilis - Aston Villa v Ipswich, September 9, 2000
Villa fans had high hopes for experienced Belgian striker Nilis when he joined them from PSV Eindhoven on a free transfer shortly before the start of the 2000-01 season.
However, that hope was sadly short-lived. Nilis played just three times in the Premier League for Villa, with the last of those appearances lasting just four minutes before he sustained a double fracture of his right leg following a collision with Ipswich keeper Richard Wright.
Recovery: Nilis was forced to announce his retirement four months later.
5) Eduardo - Birmingham v Arsenal, September 23, 2008
Almost exactly two years to the day before Ramsey's horror injury, Eduardo suffered a terrible leg break following a tackle by Birmingham's Martin Taylor. As well as breaking his left fibula, the striker's injury was further complicate by an open dislocation of his let ankle.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger initially called for Taylor to be banned for the challenge, although he later retracted those comments.
Recovery: Eduardo was out for a week shy of a year before he returned in an FA Cup tie against Cardiff. In that match, he pulled a hamstring!
4) Petr Cech - Reading v Chelsea, October 14, 2006
Proving that it’s not just outfield players who are at risk when playing the beautiful game, Chelsea goalkeeper Cech nearly lost his life following a controversial challenge from Reading's Stephen Hunt.
Cech was left severely concussed after being kneed in the head by the Irish midfielder and collapsed in the dressing room after being carried from the playing area.
Amid fears he had suffered a blood clot, the giant keeper was rushed to the Royal Berkshire Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery for a depressed fractured of the skull.
Recovery: After originally being told he would be out of football for at least a year, Cech made a miraculous return to the Chelsea first team just three months later. The Czech stopper now wears a rugby-style head guard when playing that protects the areas of his skull weakened by the collision.
3) Alf Inge Haaland - Man United v Man City, April 21, 2001
Roy Keane’s knee-high horror lunge on the Norwegian in the Manchester derby earned him a red card, a five-game suspension and a £150,000 fine.
Keane later revealed in his autobiography that it was premeditated revenge after he suffered a season-ending injury while trying to foul Haaland, then at Leeds, in a match four years earlier.
Recovery: After numerous attempts at a comeback, Haaland was forced to accept retirement in July 2003.
2) Patrick Battiston - France v West Germany, July 8, 1982
Midfielder Battiston was clean through on goal with only the keeper to beat in the second half of this World Cup semi-final match in Seville, when he was poleaxed by German stopper Harald Schumacher.
Not so much a challenge for the ball as an assault, Schumacher somehow managed to escape unpunished for an aerial bodycheck that left the French star in a coma.
Widely considered one of the most shocking fouls in footballing history, Battiston suffered damaged vertebrae, a broken jaw and the loss of four of his front teeth.
Recovery: After his jaw was wired back into place, Battiston returned to work for his club Saint Etienne five months later.
1) David Busst - Manchester United v Coventry City, April 8, 1996
Arguably the most infamous of footballing injuries.
While the BBC and Sky refrained from showing the stomach-churning effects of the Coventry defender's collision with Manchester United defender Denis Irwin, the look of horror on United keeper Peter Schmeichel's face painted a vivid picture of just how serious the injury was.
Busst suffered a double compound fracture with the impact of the clash causing his cracked fibula bone to pierce the skin.
The match had to be delayed for 15 minutes while the blood was cleaned off the pitch at Old Trafford, while Schmeichel had to undergo counselling for a number of weeks following the incident.
Recovery: Busst never played professionally again. Having faced the very real prospect of having his injured leg amputated, it's likely he felt grateful for being at least able to walk.
Seriously, the frequency with which footballers are suffering from horrendous injuries on the field (not the least in India), I think we should open a thread 'Career threatening injuries suffered by footballers'