How To Blame a Murder Victim
Shraddha Walkar's murder, a newspaper article, and four deadly strikes.
Let’s start with the headline.
“Mumbai food blogger kills live-in partner…”
I wonder if she knew while taking this decision that this will be the identifier by which she will be known in a newspaper headline? Not just a woman, not just a partner, but a “live-in partner”? An adjective masquerading as a moral certificate. That’s hard to shake off even when you are a murder victim. Three words. One hyphen. And, strike one.
“…cut the body into 35 pieces, stored them into a refrigerator…”
Ah, the reason why this murder is on the front page of a national newspaper. The thing about women being killed in India is, that there are countless such incidences everyday. Dowry, stalking, harassment, infanticide, female foeticide, intimate partner violence…I could go on. Here, though, the sensation is the story. It is the detail that will most probably make it a compelling candidate for a true crime film or a show (and so, ensuring that her memory never gets any rest.) It is also the detail that despicable folks, and YouTubers will use to make a meme out of. This, is strike two.
“…the crime didn’t come to light for six months…”
More fodder for Twitter. Like a tweet that revelled in its smugness said, “Always listen to your parents. You'll be dead otherwise and people won't even realise for over 6 months.” What the many people who insist on blaming her for this may not know is that a classic sign of abusive partners is that they will isolate you from friends and family. Countless organisations working with domestic abuse survivors have said again and again, that it is never the victim’s fault. But, we as a society will still insist, that it is. We will still say, “hey why didn’t she walk out.” We will say, strike three.
“…Shraddha Walkar met Aftab Poonawalla in 2019…”
I am well aware of how deeply the moral fabric of this country has changed. And yet, I confess I recoiled in horror at the extent to which this fact has been pounced upon by so-called custodians of our culture. If you ever wanted to know how any decent human being can rejoice — almost whoop in victory — at the murder of another human being, I invite you to see how TV anchors, and right-wing publications are screaming “see, this is love jihad!” In the exhilaration of hate, what is forgotten is a fact — a man murdered his partner in a the most gruesome manner imaginable. But never mind. We are interested in using a woman’s murder for our hate-filled agenda. And so — strike four.
Four deadly strikes. One woman. And a murder. Again.
A disclaimer: I usually refrain from amplifying hate posts, or linking them here. But a bubble when the world is on fire benefits no one. How long can we look away?