Police this week said that the editor of Goa's first-launched
English-language daily, Arun Sinha had been accused in a molestation
case involving his maid-servant. This was initially reported mid-week by
the DigitalGoa.com SMS-based breaking news service which also has a site
[1]. The detailed item is [2]. 

[1] http://www.digitalgoa.com 
[2] http://www.digitalgoa.com/ca_disp.php?id=379

A lot of other comments also came up on the Net. This early
announcement [3] came from the Goa Suraj Party -- functioning this week
in near-detective mode -- on Thursday October 13, 2005 via Goanet (and
probably other networks). It added to its brief announcement, "whether
it is a frame-up or authentic is awaited."

London-based Goanet volunteer Gabe Menezes was quick to follow-up with
a link to The Hindu's news story [4], which mentioned no names but said
the case was against a "senior journalist and editor of a local
English(-language) daily." [5]

[3] http://shire.symonds.net/pipermail/goanet/2005-October/034107.html
[4] http://shire.symonds.net/pipermail/goanet/2005-October/034145.html
[5] http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/14/stories/2005101405921300.htm

This is an unusual case by any count. The person involved is a senior
local figure ... and police have been known to oftentime drag their
feet and make light of cases. It's hard to believe that a genuine case
could not have been wrangled out of; though by the weekend there was
also talk about intercessions to the persons in high posts. 

Another editor -- whose role was barely mentioned -- was also involved
in the filing of the complaint against Sinha, and carrying a story on
top of his frontpage the next day. 

Sections of the Marathi/Konkani press went to town with the story as
contrasted by the attitude of the English-language dailies. (The NT
itself carried a frontpage, three-para report, no names mentioned;
Herald dropped it completely. GT wrote a fairly strongly-worded piece
but displayed it single-column on the inside page.) Sunaparant, the
struggling-for-circulation Devanagari Konkani highlighted it fairly
prominently on Page 1.

Arun Sinha has been editor of the Navhind Times for some 12 years,
probably one of the longest serving editors of the paper -- the first
English-language daily to be launched in Goa in 1963. While at the
helm, the journalist who had earlier drawn national attention (via The
Indian Express) to the infamous Bagalpur Blindings Case has probably
rubbed a number of persons the wrong way in Goa. This could have lead
many to take up the issue... not necessarily with the girl's interest
in mind.

Is there some politics involved? Or do we journos remain selectively
skeptical? (One view was that this was a way of paying back Sinha's
employers for its role in toppling the earlier BJP government,
particularly in the switch-over by former BJP deputy CM Digambar Kamat;
but who can be sure of what is and what isn't a red herring here?) 

Goa Union of Journalists has been discussing this issue; a stand is
possible.

          Goa's media fraternity, which obviously comes in with diverse
          viewpoints and backgrounds, was also strongly divided on
          how to view this issue.

Shiv Kumar in Mumbai, formerly also with The Indian Express as its Goa
correspondent and now with The Tribune, set the ball rolling [6]. An
attempt by this blogger to argue against a "trial by the media" and
linking this issue the NT's own earlier role [7] drew an angry response
from some.

One anonymous note lambasted this writer, with much criticism and a
number of allegations. It can be seen here [8]. 

6 http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002391.html
7 http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002395.html
8 http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002418.html

You can view various viewpoints from former Tehelka reporter (and one
time NT staffer) Mayabhushan Nagvenkar at [9], [10], [11], [12] and
[13]. Also from Gomantak Times' Reuven Proenca, currently on a year's
study leave in the UK [14], Shiv Kumar [15], [16], [17], [18], [19] and
[20]. Loksatta and The Indian Express' Raju Nayak [21] has his say,
while Deccan Herald's Devika Sequeira has a blunt retort [22] with
additional inputs at [23] and [24].

9 http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002392.html
10 http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002393.html
11 http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002394.html
12 http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002401.html
13 http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002402.html
14 http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002397.html
15 http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002400.html
16 http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002408.html
17 http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002409.html
18 http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002410.html
19 http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002406.html
20 http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002416.html
21 http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002406.html
22 http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002412.html
23 http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002413.html
24 http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002414.html

The last two reports reflect on the story from the new Mumbai-based
daily DNA (Daily News and Analysis, for whom former ToI veteran Pushpa
Iyengar is back in the state as its Goa correspondent) and the Deccan
Herald, respectively.

Not everything expressed above is something one would agree with. Am I
reading too much here to see some digs being taken...? But then, one
moderator's idea of fairness is another's form of censorship! And what
worse than being condemned as a fence-sitter? 

At the same time, some on the NT side also saw a campaign of bias
seeping in via Goajourno against their publication, consistently and
persistently over the past fortnight. We would like to believe that
this network [25] balances out our individual biases and
bees-in-our-bonnets to take on diverse sections of the media. Or maybe
one is biased in saying this oneself!

Former Herald editor Rajan Narayan's comments in his 'stray thoughts'
doesn't seem to be online yet, when [26] was visited just after
midnight on Saturday-Sunday. He raises both the sex-abuse allegation
and the child-labour issue. 

[25] http://puggy.symonds.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/goajourno
[26] http://www.goanobserver.com/

>From the non-media side, the seemingly powerful (and who says it
isn't?) media behemoth can well suited for target-practice, whenever
the opportunity presents itself. The Goan Forum is obviously off (See
"Looking Glass 5 ...  a Saint....or a 'Sinna'?" [27]) when it argues
that "the relative silence about the incident in the online Goa media
is striking". But it might embarass the Navhind Times when it talks
about this editorial [26] sourced to that paper itself, castigating the
Goa government for its apathy on dealing with the fact that "highest
number of domestic child labourers".

[For the record, Arun Sinha hasn't yet issued a statement. But sources
close to him put the age of the domestic worker at 15, while the police
say she's only 11. Also, there are differing versions emerging about
whether the girl was just slapped, emerged "in a bruised and battered
condition" or was "sexually abused". The first version comes from
sources who got Sinha's version, and the latter two feature in online
and media reports respectively.

[27] Currently at http://www.colaco.net/ permalink not sure
[28] http://acr.hrschool.org/mainfile.php/0183/324/

Eitherway, this warrants concern. Blocking the story isn't going to
help; neither is sensationalising it (or scoring over past enemities
over it). If the charge is true, it's serious. And it's even more so if
it's not! --FN, October 16, 2005. 
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------
Frederick 'FN' Noronha  | [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Independent Journalist  | http://fn.swiki.net
Goa, India              | +91(832)2409490 Cell 9822122436
----------------------------------------------------------


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