To highlight how the media has been particularly biased in Gujarat, Offstumped has dug out an interesting story that made headlines late December 2005, early 2006. The media reportage on this story highlights the motivated agenda of the left of center media.
First the chronology of events concerning this story.
27th Dec 2005 TOI reports %u201CPost Godhra Mass Grave unearthed%u201D
29th Dec 2005 The Hindu reports %u201CMass Grave: NHRC seeks report from Gujarat and CBI%u201D
29th Dec 2005 The Telegraph reports %u201CGujarat HC asks CBI to intervene in grave probe%u201D
Now the CBI in early 2006 actually exhumes the bodies and collects DNA samples.
So what happens next in this morbid saga ?
Before we get to that, note how the media framed this %u201Cdiscovery%u201D with the usage of the phrase %u201Cmass grave%u201D so as to draw parallels with %u201Cpogrom%u201D and %u201Cholocaust%u201D. Now the phrase %u201CMass Grave%u201D typically is used to imply disposal of a very large number of unknown human remains usually in a single site to coverup state sponsored mass killing. To put the %u201Cmass%u201D in %u201Cmass grave%u201D into perspective consider the %u201Cmass graves%u201D in Iraq with thousands of corpses, the hundreds in Chechenya, more than 8000 in the killing fields of Cambodia.
In this case even before the CBI exhumed bodies and established identity the media characterised the find as a mass grave related to the 2002 riots.
