The media’s own honour killing

Following last week’s alleged killing of Ranjeeta Sharma by burning on a remote road in the Waikato, there has been wild speculation in the news media about the incident being an honour killing.

This has been hyped on such a scale, that the NZ Police has had to issue a clarification that the incident is being treated as a homicide and not a case of honour killing as has been reported in some media outlets.

The communication from the head of the investigation team states, “There has been reference by some media about an ‘honour killing’, I want to reassure our Indian community, Police are investigating a homicide enquiry.” (Underscoring of the two words not ours).

It is unfortunate that the media have fuelled such speculation.

This is not to deny the existence of honour killings among the subcontinent’s communities. As alluded to by some of the “experts” whose sound bites have been echoing all over the airwaves, these might have happened even here in New Zealand.

But to fuel wanton speculation that this particular case could be one of an honour killing even as the police from the very beginning have been saying that it is being treated as a homicide is insensitive.

Would the media have indulged in such speculation if the incident were of a more mainstream nature – one that looked, sounded and felt more New Zealand than migrant?

Would reporters call on assorted experts to garner their opinion and broadcast them superimposing them on the news story even before the investigations were complete?

Would they make speculative assumptions contrary to the investigating authorities’ specified line of enquiry – as they have done in such a blatant manner in the Waikato case?

Probably not. Journalistic ethics would be applied more rigorously in such an instance – even perhaps with considerations of political correctness.

But honour killings, bride burning and the like is culturally a foreign issue – so it’s okay to speculate in cold print and over the airwaves, as it were. Even when the police says that it is being treated purely as a case of homicide – at least as of now.

Reporters went into overdrive to reinforce the speculation of the honour killing angle and contacted members of the Indian community for their reactions. Some of those spoken to only complicated the issue by making ill informed and irrelevant statements.

Waikato Indian Cultural Society president Roy Vellara, told Waikato Times reporter Belinda Feek that the manner in which Mrs Sharma was killed did not surprise him. “He said the name Sharma was common in North India where most honour killings were performed,” wrote Feek. “It's very rare you would see such incidents in South India,” Feek quoted Mr Vellara.

He could not have been more off the mark. The Sharmas are from Fiji, where there is no record of honour killings in the manner that there is on the Indian subcontinent. Former member of Satsang Ramayan Mandali Tika Ram was quoted in the NZ Herald saying honour killings were “very uncommon” in Fiji.

While Mr Vellara giving it an Indian regional colour was unwarranted in the first place, it was even more speculative and conjectural. In any case, it made little sense to report it in the media because of its irrelevance.

Contrast that with Auckland Indian Association President Harshad Patel’s statement that media speculation that Sharma's death was an "honour killing" was premature and it seemed unlikely to be the case.

But that was not good enough for the media. Not to be outdone, TV3 roped in Amnesty International to reel off statistics of honour killings around the subcontinent and how the malaise was following migrant settlements across the world.

And nearly every major news outlet played along with the honour killing angle, interviewing ethnic Indian workers of women’s and social organisations to record their general statements about honour killings and linking them to this case.

At the time of writing, no media outlet had clarified the investigation team’s present position – that it was being treated as a homicide. Follow up reports persisted in linking the honour killing angle.

One would expect the media to try to break stereotypes, not reinforce them.

So, in New Zealand, when Indians are not running dairies, liquor stores, driving taxis or cooking curry (and getting mugged or shot in the bargain), they’re burning brides and killing for honour.