Moral policing ruins bunkers’ party
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KATHMANDU, MAR 20 -
My first response on being ‘tipped off’ that the police had raided a disco and arrested 300 school kids for “bunking” classes, was utter surprise, which gave way to anger. For, when I reached Babylon disco at Sundhara, television crews were already there beaming the event live, as though it were an incident that bore national significance. I was aghast at the treatment being meted out to the kids. The cops had lined up these children, barely in their late adolescence, like criminals merely for playing truant to party.
As for the television crews, they lapped up everything the police had to offer. “Gadha! show your face!” said a cameraperson to one of the kids — all of them were trying their best to hide their faces with their bags or blazers.
What has become of our media ? Should the media in our New Nepal go to any length just for the sake of a “scoop”—if nabbing school kids who bunk class can be defined as one—and even resort to flashing the faces of children on the screen? Have the camera persons lost all sense of what news is? Should they beam or print anything and everything the cops offer?
Further questions: Is this what our police for has turned into—a moral army that cracks down on and parades teenagers having fun in a disco? And, is it a crime for them to be found in one? Further, isn’t it rather cheap on the part of the police to seek “media publicity” through such stunts as these at a time when questions on their aability to maintain security and control violent crimes are being raised every other day?
(Shrestha is the deputy photo-editor at the Kantipur Publications)
Posted on: 2010-03-20 12:00
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