Cruise control

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Cruise control

Saturday, 09 October 2021 | Pioneer

Cruise control

Kids born to influential parents have an equal right to be judged fairly, or punished

Dealing with celebrities and their kin is often a double-edged sword, especially when it comes to journalism. On the one hand, it garners eyeballs and mileage in terms of attention and, on the other, if not handled deftly, it can open up a can of worms. Captioning this case through the pedigree of an alleged offender does get the reader’s attention. That it may not be in the best traditions of healthy journalism is another matter. What an adult does, cannot be laid at the doorstep of his parentage, irrespective of the merits of the case. On Friday afternoon, Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan’s bail plea was rejected in the cruise ship drug raid case. Aryan is an adult, responsible for his own conduct. The law of the land will deal with him appropriately, depending on the merits of the case. Why then bring in the parentage? Aryan is in the limelight for many wrong reasons. In case the chap is not guilty, he should be allowed to walk free honourably. However, if he is guilty (thepanchnama does quote him as saying, ‘I am going to have a blast…have a good time’, with six gm of charas), he should be awarded punishment like anybody else, without giving any leverage to his lineage.

In fact, erring children born to super influential parents should meet with even harsher punishment to set an example. The law enforcers, media and the society, on their part, should also make sure that they do not indulge in witch-hunting. While a few grams of drugs on the cruise liner is hitting the headlines, the drug seizure of Rs 21,000 crore from the Mundra port in Gujarat was conveniently forgotten by the media and swept under the carpet early enough. Undue hype only makes life miserable for the accused and the NCB, besides weakening the case. Rhea Chakraborty’s case is still fresh in our memories. On a different note, certain psychologists point out that SRK’s repeated brag about his success after a hard struggle and mega stardom may impress people like Karan Johar but it could be irritating to many. In that case, there would be a propensity to bring him down a peg or two. Therefore, a section of the media may be overtaken by this desire to show a mirror and possibly establish how the brag itself could be misplaced.

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