Media overplaying Nandita death to increase TRP rating, says George

Bangalore, Nov 6: The visual media is overplaying the case of mysterious death of Nandita, a 14-year-old girl from Thirthahalli talul, for the sake of increasing their Television?Rating Points (TRPs), said Home Minister K J George.

Replying to queries from media in the city, Mr George said the visual media was repeatedly telecasting the incident as if there was no other news. George said in reality the number of rape cases had come down in Karnataka but the visual media had been reporting as if the cases were on the rise without verifying facts.

Mr George also said that the death note recovered from the school bag of Nandita will be sent to forensic test in view of questions being raised about the document's authenticity.

He clarified that medical report from Manipal Hospital testified that the girl was not raped. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was probing the kidnapping angle of the incident and doing its best to solve the mystery,” he added.

Rejecting the Bharatiya Janata Party's demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe, Mr. George suggested that the principal Opposition party had to allow the CID to complete its investigation and submit the report, instead of obstructing the probe by organising bandhs and trouping in to streets. “It is not possible to hand over every case to the CBI,” he added.

The home minister also blamed meida for highlighting crimes such as cases of sexual assaults and projecting Bengaluru as "a rape city" to increase TRP ratings. "What has happened to the media is you want only such news, you are showing only such news to increase your TRP. Show good news, it will be good," he said.

Asked if he wants the media to refrain from publishing such news, he said "I'm responding to your question- that such news has grabbed national headlines....I have told in detail several times that after Nirbhaya case Sec 376 (relating to rape) has got a wider definition, and the incidents happening within the school premises should be stopped by school managements. When complaints have come we have acted."

"Projecting Bengaluru as rape city and putting people of Karnataka in a bad light, we have objections to it," he said, as the government came under fire over the recurrence of sexual assaults on minor girls in schools.

In July, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had courted a controversy over the alleged rape of a six-year-old girl in a city private school, as he asked the media if it did not have any other issue.

"Except that, don't you have any other issue? Is this the only news you have?" Siddaramaiah had snapped back at reporters who sought to know the latest on the case that had evoked public outrage and drawn criticism of his government for not acting swiftly.