The Scarlet Letter

The mother of the slain girl, Fiona, sits alone on a bench like the accused in a witness box, listening to the jury of speakers pass judgments on her, her daughter and their morals. Everyone began with heartfelt condolences that sounded somewhat hollow by the end.

Anchor Barkha Dutt rushed into a series of dramatic questions, longer than the replies. Barkha: The Goa you knew Remo, who killed that Goa?

Remo Fernandes: We did.

Maria Couto: This is the symptom of a disease, this is a perverted image of Goa — Goa where everything goes.

British policewoman: We come here to relax (not be raped and killed). I have seen the police take money from people selling the stuff (aka drugs) — I am disgusted by what I have seen (and so say all of us?).

Minister Sequiera: I am a father, she (Fiona) should have ensured her daughter was left in safe hands.

Barkha (to Fiona): The media has highlighted your sexuality, your (bohemian) lifestyle, your knifing a man… your eldest son is on drugs, Scarlett was on drugs…

Fiona: No, she wasn’t, I don’t believe in drugs.

Oscar Rebello: Drugs, rape — this is an unfortunate image. Goa is a very beautiful girl…

Neena Baig: Scarlett was a young girl left alone.

Uddham Singh Makhija VJ: I would leave my wife alone in Goa.

Bina Ramani: If you wear a bikini (you are asking for it)… be more respectful of the country you visit.

Barkha: Bikini OK if an Indian wore it? (Howls of protest)

Barkha: Fiona, a British newspaper said Goa symbolises your lifestyle…

Sujoy Gupte: This is about bad policing, bad governance, corrupt police…(Applause)

Barkha: Now, the people want to speak — you, stand up, stand up, ask your question. Drugs, mafias, corruption, sex, motherhood…Dutt, plodding through the sand, darted about in search of elusive answers. As Makhija said at one point, she “lost the plot”. As such she typified the confused nature of the coverage on all channels. From the day the story broke, the media was faced with a choice: focus on poor parenting and the hippie habits of Fiona and Scarlett, or on the crime and the conditions that made it all too possible. No choice: a bikini babe in wicked, wanton Goa wins every time.

Sunday on Headlines Today, the anchor was fairly licking his lips as he read out Scarlett’s diary entries, lingered on the last one: a drawing of a dead man hanging, a girl in tears.

Anchor: The diaries show this is a life drenched in drugs and drinks (slurp, slurp!)… Akash, she’s a huge mess.

Akash: A complicated life, character is questionable —she did drugs, was into sex. Here’s this entry — ‘I wish something big would happen…’

Anchor: We know what big thing happened…

To justify this low level of inquiry, anchors gleefully waved the British (tabloid) press in our faces, zeroing in on headlines like: Masala Mike to testify: “I blame the mother”. Masala is right.

Worst of all, the minor’s bruised and battered body was depicted like a sculpture rather than a corpse. Repeatedly, we were shown the same visuals of her injuries, her body photographed in a manner that made you wonder whether it was more about showing a nude nubile female body than the injuries it had sustained.

shailaja.bajpai@expressindia.com