Journalism, Justice & Jeopardy

Posted on March 29, 2013by biratanupam

By: Birat Anupam

Biratanupam@gmail.com

The brutal Delhi gang-rape of a medical student months back angered  and rocked the entire India. People took the street and made protests. This has pressured the Parliament to amend the rape bill to prosecute perpetrators harshly. Though, Damini, the victim girl of Delhi gang rape breathed her last at a hospital in Singapore during her treatment, all the culprits are now locked beyond bar , and the youngest is also being tried at  a fast-track Juvenile court.

                  To make the case move faster ,journalism was catalyst. Almost all mainstream Indian papers, tabloids and broadcasting media followed and covered the development of the story. International news networks, news agencies and multinational news channels did all they could do to support the victim and expose the sinners involved  through their news pieces . Ultimately this case has reshaped the news worthiness of VAW ( Violence Against Women) in media houses.

        Every paper, radio, television and online portal is now sharing the newest and latest VAW cases. VAW has started occupying headlines and is holding front pages. Many VAW reports are being unearthed , some perpetrators are being charged guilty too. But when it comes to the case of Chin Cabrido, neither journalism backed her nor justice is ensured till date.

           She flights every second week from Philippines to Nepal just to attend Kathmandu Special Court’s hearing in her legal battle against the ‘Culprit’. A journalist and freelancer by profession and also a consultant to Asian Development Bank as communication specialist, Chin Cabrido has spent bulk amount of money and resources , even greater than the possible property share she  would  obtain if she won the case, only to get justice. She is spending more than 80 thousand nepali rupees a month plus extra legal and other daily and weekly expenses to battle her case against her ‘perpetrator’ Surendra Phuyal, a BBC Nepali journalist , who allegedly sexually abused and emotionally tortured her during and after their relationship. On December 2009, Surendra Phuyal emailed her congratulating her for her ‘excellent’ article in Nepalnews.com and they became online friend, said Chin on my exclusive online interaction just a week ago. She further elaborated ,”Surendra requested me to meet me in person to report my project progress on March 2010 , four month later aftee we talked online’’. Surendra Phuyal , as expressed by Chin, approached her to meet and finally they met in Everest Hotel to watch.a filipino band playing. Surendra started dating her and after winning her trust,they stayed together, travelled together to exotic places,  and eventually married off on June 10, 2010. Chin had introduced Surendra to her family and relatives in Philippines . Surendra also travelled to the Philipines as her husband to meet her family and relatives. Things were all okay till the day Chin found out that Surendra was already a married man and had married in 2008 with another woman.

                     Soon after this information, she rushed to file divorce but at that time she was pregnant of Surendra’s child. She wrote to Press Council to register a complaint against Phuyal but all of this.information was leaked by Press Council and were printed in Jana Aastha weekly, it’s editor Kishore Shrestha is also a press council member. SInce all of these confidential.information was leaked, Surendra started  torturing and exploiting her . She had to be escorted by police upon her arrival to Tribhuwan International Airport and and assure her security in her apartment in Lazimpat until she filed the case in the Kathmandu District Court. She says she finds it difficult to tell all these things that happened to her in front of many people in open hearing room in KTM district court because back in the Philippines, VAW cases are heard in family court where there is.privacy and respect to hearing the.victim’s story.. Earlier she lost  her job at ADB due to Surendra’s email to her bosses attacking her character. Later she was re-appointed as she was proved innocent. To overcome all of her struggle and pain; and energize her fatigued body, stressed mind and tortured heart, she is fighting her case to set an example of winning the case of VAW in Nepal . As a woman victim, she has endured a deep suffering which emotionally and psychologically ruined her. She lost the chance of becoming a.mother and now she is afraid that due to this experience, she will never be married again. That is worth than any compensation. In my perception,all journalist must back from their own fronts  to guarantee justice to the victim Philipino national Chin based on moral ground as was done in India against deadly Delhi gang-rape violence . Than only all Nepalese women can walk tall as denizens of widely respected and perfectly protected citizens where WAV is not tolerated at any cost by any means. 

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