STORY: "Investigation by podcast, one episode at a time," by reporter Phalguni Desai (a freelance reporter and editor) reported by 'The Hindu' on May 22, 2016.
GIST: "Phalguni Desai gives the series Trial by Error: The Aarushi Files a good hearing to understand the nuances behind one of the most sensational murder cases in recent times Ever heard a rumour about yourself?” asks journalist Nishita Jha at the start of the new podcast Trial by Error: The Aarushi Files. It’s the perfect question to start longform reportage on a case that has been discussed in every public forum possible: the nightly news, neighbourhood tea stalls, schools, kitty parties, favourite dive bars, the local train, and endless newspaper columns. For a while, talk about the double murder that took place in Noida on the night of May 15, 2008, and the ensuing investigation was inescapable. Now, eight years and two convictions later, Trial by Error, produced by New Delhi-based film collective Jamun for Saavn and Arre.co.in, attempts to look at the conditions and circumstances that led to one of the most sensationalised investigations in recent times......... As the case unfolded, the once popular TV soap Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki included an ‘inspired’ version (which the Talwars unsuccessfully tried stopping). Last year, Bollywood gave us Rahasya and Talvar, both based on the murders. The latter, written by Vishal Bhardwaj and Meghana Gulzar, followed the confused investigation closely, and brought out the incompetent handling of the case by officers. Around the same time, journalist Avirook Sen released his book Aarushi, detailing an investigation that served more as an indictment of the ham-handed police (in) action after the bodies were found. Inspired by the book, (which was supported by the Talwars), Trial by Error continues to look into the case, telling us what happened with multiple voices who feel like they’re speaking directly to you. “It’s an almost inside-your-head kind of experience,” producer and co-writer Ayesha Sood says via e-mail. “It allows for a more intimate, honest exchange, as people tend to have some sort of mask on when you have lights and cameras in the room. They’re more comfortable with an unobtrusive microphone.” Perhaps it is that, or the eight years in between, but the comfort is discernible. “So what do you want to know?” asks an interviewee, before Jha begins her questions. Amongst all the people she speaks to — including Aarushi’s classmates, Rajesh Talwar’s driver Umesh, Delhi Police ex-commissioner Neeraj Kumar, and Andrei Semikhodskii, a U.K.-based DNA expert the Talwars reached out to – sound like they’re having a phone conversation with the listener. While it doesn’t have Irrfan Khan thundering at you from a screen or Konkana Sen Sharma’s acting chops to convince you, what it has is the honest conviction of the different voices that you hear. The disbelief in the voices of Aarushi’s friends who, now as adults, are shocked that the Noida police held the idea of schoolgirl sleepovers and budding teenage romance in a sexual light. The conviction in Neeraj Kumar as he insists the investigative teams could have done no wrong given they’re training. And the exasperated tone of a Rameshpal Sirohi, who speaks of the difference between cops in Delhi and Noida when he suggests the narrow outlook of his Noida-based colleagues. “The way the police investigated this case was shocking only because it was in Noida, and it was a case that affected people like us,” adds Jha. She references stories she has covered to illustrate how spinning stories is an unofficial part of the U.P. police’s investigative process. “I recently wrote about a case of rape and suicide in Muzaffarnagar, where the police had simply hung out with a few men in the village and decided that the woman must have had a consensual affair. This despite a long history of the woman telling her co-workers that a young man was stalking her, him harassing her in front of witnesses, and people spotting her distraught with her clothes torn and so on.” If you regularly read the news, this really doesn’t seem hard to believe. What does, though, is the strange sort of negligence, the seemingly lackadaisical attitude the police adopted. The story that was spun, one that, almost like a conspiracy, was repeated, repeated and repeated some more till its shock quotient drowned out every other voice. It’s almost evil. Almost. It’s a conflict you have to deal with as a viewer, to look for reasons, and explanations into the whys of this system. Systems often seem daunting as they continue to work around us unseen, and place us where they need us to be. When the system in question is the police, whose job is to “catch bad guys”, we want to believe it’s that kind uncle who will keep bullies away while smiling down at us benignly..........So we hear the police. We hear from Rameshpal Sirohi as we hear from Neeraj Kumar. We hear a differing point of view, but we also hear about the different places the two come from. Kumar, a retired Police Commissioner, believes the system is working fine. Sirohi, a working officer, rues a lack of what we know as sensitivity training, for officers who enlist from villages, suggesting the system cannot be fine if the police and the people they serve aren’t on the same page. The podcast also forces you to consider who your friendly neighbourhood policeman is. Is he from the city? Does he believe in god and does he think women who smoke are bad women? Does he know what a sleepover is? Should we even call the police if something goes wrong? And what about that forensic guy who can’t name the chemical he’s apparently been using for 20 years to collect fingerprints? Trial by Error really is in some ways an indictment of all of us who added to the noise. Who took sides, who exchanged notes on the rumours they’d heard: swingers, you say? We heard he was just having an affair! It’s an indictment of those of us who sexualised a 13-year-old in her death, even though we knew what teenage sleepovers were about. Who thought there was no way a servant would dare drink, never mind have friends over for a party, while his employer was around, and those who thought who else could have done it but the servant, without having bothered to check the terrace. Those who believed that of course in Uttar Pradesh it’s not so unconceivable that the father honour-killed his daughter for pursuing a relationship with their Nepali servant. If this story exists to be retold today, it’s because our prejudices made it a constantly evolving one that looked at everything but the truth. A few months ago, NDTV Hindi anchor Ravish Kumar presented his show with a black screen, without visuals, without the frothing faces of opinion makers, only to make the nightly news cycle audience realise how they’ve been had from the start. Trial by Error intends to do this over eight episodes, each looking at the various aspects of the case, feeding in to our need to be detectives but somewhat responsibly. Trial by Error: The Aarushi Files’s fourth episode – CBI Team 1 – will be available today at 9 pm at arre.co.in/audio and the Saavn app."
The entire story can be found at:
http://m.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/investigation-by-podcast-one-episode-at-a-time/article8631231.ece
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The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
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Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
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Harold Levy;
Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
