We the undersigned are shocked at the manner in which a section of the social media relentlessly vilified Khurshid Anwar, social activist and writer with regard to an allegation of rape against him. A section of the electronic media also contributed to the vilification, causing him to commit suicide this morning, the 18th of December, 2013.
We are of the opinion that every allegation of rape, sexual violence and other serious crimes, needs to investigated and subjected to due process of law. We also appreciate the media’s right to report on such issues in public interest. However, this process by which guilt is ascribed prior to due process is harmful to the cause of justice and rule of law. In this case even before an offence was registered, the accused was presumed guilty, before he could be heard and face fair investigation.
Due and fair process of law is necessary not only for the aggrieved but also for the accused.
Sd/-
Apoorvanand,
Kavita Srivastava
Mahtab Alam
Dipa Sinha
Sachin Jain
Aditya Srivastava
Dr. Binayak Sen
Biraj Patnaik
Dheeraj
Swati Narayan
Madhuri Krishnamurty
Purwa Bhardwaj
Kumar Sundaram
Manisha Sethi
Mansi Sharma
Tanweer Fazal
Anusha Rizvi
Mahmood Farooqui
Poonam Girdhani
Fouzia Dastango
Himanshu Pandya
Amalendu Upadhyay
Rafiul Alom
Sidhdharth Kalhans
