The accused, suspect, undertrial, or convict?
The late night newscast on All India Radio at 11 pm on April 5, 2010 referred to Nalini Sriharan, assassin of Rajiv Gandhi as "an accused in the case". The newscast had carried the item about her appeal for clemency.
It was incorrect to describe her as an accused when she was convicted of the murder and is serving her term. She is not an undertrial but a convict.
Often, when reporting crime-related stories, journalists err on the use of words.
For instance, when a person is arrested in connection with a case, or for a custodial interrogation, the news item refers to the person detained as an accused. A person is that only when he is charged with the crime in the court; till then he remains a suspect.
Seldom do newspapers call a person picked up for questioning a suspect. The media never put a finer point to it by saying detained for questioning or taken away for questioning to further a probe. The moment a person is picked up, he becomes an accused as far as the media are concerned.
Every person has a right to his self-respect and by carelessly using the word accused, the media could be tarnishing a person's image. That is best avoided. They may even be playing into the hands of the police who would like to appear as having solved a case because they have an accused. Why play into their hands and play their games?
-Mahesh Vijapurkar
It was incorrect to describe her as an accused when she was convicted of the murder and is serving her term. She is not an undertrial but a convict.
Often, when reporting crime-related stories, journalists err on the use of words.
For instance, when a person is arrested in connection with a case, or for a custodial interrogation, the news item refers to the person detained as an accused. A person is that only when he is charged with the crime in the court; till then he remains a suspect.
Seldom do newspapers call a person picked up for questioning a suspect. The media never put a finer point to it by saying detained for questioning or taken away for questioning to further a probe. The moment a person is picked up, he becomes an accused as far as the media are concerned.
Every person has a right to his self-respect and by carelessly using the word accused, the media could be tarnishing a person's image. That is best avoided. They may even be playing into the hands of the police who would like to appear as having solved a case because they have an accused. Why play into their hands and play their games?
-Mahesh Vijapurkar
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