Arushi

For 50 days, the media went beserk dissecting 14 year old dead Arushi's "lewd" SMSes, names of her friends and her private life on national TV, how she was seen in a "compromising position" with her servant by her dad, and killed for that "objectionable behaviour", how her dad should be punished, asking viewers for how they think he should be punished for this heinous crime. The UP Police gave interviews. Ekta Kapoor quickly included a new twist in her serial, and housewives lapped up the fare in amazement and enthusiasm, waiting to see what "really happened" in Arushi's dirty life!

Then, he is set free for lack of any evidence, and three of his workers are caught for the crime.

Now, the media will haunt him about how much time he needs to get over his grief, how he spent time in jail missing his daughter and family, how he will move on from here. The police will pass on the buck to some junior officers and make them scapegoats. And the housewives will simply move on to the next soap.

Do we really need to stoop so low for TRPs? Don't dead people have any rights? Don't we have any morality, any sense of what's right and wrong? A dad loses his only daughter - and instead of being his strength and support, we put him in jail, accuse him of murder, then strip his daughter on national TV?

I hope the police, the media, and the audiences take a lesson from this disgusting drama that played out in every Indian home over the last 50 days... for the sake of that poor girl's soul.