The Media's Stalking The Aaftab-Shraddha Crime - by Shobhaa De

Somehow, I am finding the media coverage of the macabre Delhi murder particularly creepy. Agreed, it is a bone-chilling crime that cannot be ignored by the press. But even the best crime reporters know there is always a tareeka when dealing with grisly stories that shake up - and wake up - society. So far, the 'comprehensive' coverage has been sensationalistic, voyeuristic and sickening. Perhaps, in this case, the horror stems from the fact the protagonists (Aaftab Poonawala and Shraddha Walkar), are 'people like us' - young, urban professionals, hustling in busy cities like Mumbai and Delhi. Such an act of calculated, pre-meditated violence perpetrated by an out-of-job labourer would have merited a small mention in the media. But this is a masaledaar, 'made-for-OTT' story with multiple strands. Everyone and his chacha-ji has jumped in with expert opinions on Aaftab's state of mind - is he the garden-variety psychopath who gets a sexual thrill while chopping up his lover's body into 35 pieces? 35, right? Must get the number right. We fact-check our stats, okay? Like the crime would have been any less disturbing or different had Aaftab clinically cut up Shraddha into 29 and not 35 pieces. Did he use the saw the cops found on the premises? Or did Aaftab go back to his professional skill set as a chef, and use a sharp knife? Or perhaps he preferred a meat cleaver or chopper? Note: it's not easy to dismember a corpse as systematically unless the person is trained. Or works in a mortuary. Just to make it perfectly clear to readers/viewers - Aaftab stuffed the chopped up body parts of his girlfriend into a recently-purchased refrigerator, in which he also stored his cold drinks. And yes - wait for this - he stared at his girlfriend's head, wrapped in plastic, every day. Oh, the stench thing? Aaftab took care of everything. No, he did not use a blow torch (though it's a part of a chef's arsenal), and he did not set fire to anything in the flat. But there was a lighter lying around. And Aaftab was smart enough to use industrial-strength chemicals to get rid of blood stains, plus any other evidence. Ummmm...strange he didn't destroy the saw.

For the past few days, nothing else has dominated press coverage as overwhelmingly as this one murder. It has been so thoroughly covered by reporters, one would think nothing else is as important - not even the G20 clips, with all the bruh-love going on at fancy venues with heavy-duty testosterone dominating the proceedings. Did Xi and cutie Trudeau really indulge in a cat fight? How come we didn't we see more NaMo jhappies at this Bali meet? Why are political analysts (mostly spouting unreadable bakwaas) being so discreet and dull about G20 shenanigans? Is Aaftab more important than Biden?

Crime sells. That's a given. Some crimes sell more than other crimes. There are categories of sizzling crime stories which cannot be ignored by editors. This one comes with a lot of interesting sub-plots. And guess what? It succeeding in generating a mega buzz in the media, even though it does not involve a single Bollywood star!

A hungry media beast looking for content will consume anything. But when the beast gets ravenous and devours every tiny piece of flesh thrown its way, the story becomes obnoxious and sadistic - like the Aaftab-Shraddha one. Blood and gore are staples that automatically drive numbers. The voyeur lurking inside all of us eagerly pounces on dirty details, while minutely examining a murderer's modus operandi. The police often feed into the frenzy by supplying insidious information which need not be shared with reporters. Next, the press will ask: what about Shraddha's spleen? What did Aaftab do with her internal organs? Sounds offensive and crude, right? Because it is!

By this time next week, it will be a dead story. Off the front age, and shoved to the sixteenth. Unless fresh revelations pop up. Aaftab has confessed. Shraddha's head is still missing. And the murder weapon has not been found. We know more than we need to know about "the act''. Let's just get on with the case and stop the ghoulish reportage on Aaftab's butchering expertise. A young woman has been killed. Her father deserves some consideration while he grieves. Surely that isn't too much to ask? 

(Shobhaa De is an established writer, columnist, opinion shaper and social commentator, who is considered an authority on popular culture.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author.