“Leave us alone and please go. He is now dead and we have had enough,” pleaded the mother of Ram Singh with folded hands as she broke down before a group of photographers all eager to click images of her and her husband outside their house hours after their son’s death.
This was the same house at Ravi Dass Camp in R.K. Puram where the couple’s sons, Ram Singh and Mukesh, both accused in the infamous gang-rape-cum-murder case of last December, lived before they were arrested for the alleged crime.
Ram Singh’s parents had come to Delhi from their ancestral village in Rajasthan a week ago and had been living there ever since, said Asha, a relative of the accused duo who lives next door.
Asha could be seen consoling the parents soon after they returned from Tihar Jail where Ram Singh was found hanging in the early hours of Monday. Visibly aggrieved and somewhat enraged, Ram Singh’s father Mange Lal alleged that his son was murdered.
Soon after Ram Singh and his brother were arrested for the brutal gang-rape and assault of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student, area residents had claimed that he was short-tempered and impulsive and would often pick up fights with them.
On Monday evening, however, the neighbours refused to comment.
They are old, poor and were aleady burdened with the sin of the crime their son had commited. And now destiny has struck another blow by taking away their son. The best media can do now is to leave them alone, rather than queue up to capture their trauma. The photograph was heart rending. But please, lets respect their privacy.
I cant believe that these old parents are in any way responsible for their sons' behaviour. Leave them alone, as they rightly pleaded.
'The Hindu' ... I have always appreciated you over the TOI'let paper. But, today you dishearten me. What was the need of publishing a picture of their parents? Sad, man!
It is strange that The Hindu decided to publish the pictures of Ram Singhs family despite of the plea from his helpless mother.News papers should respect the privacy of individuals.
@deepti:- your thinking is dangerous for the society..
i agree with everyone that hindu should not have printed these photos.
the society has already punished them for the crime they haven't
committed... at the end they are humans too, media should atleast give
them privacy at the time of sorrow..
The hindu is appreciated for the fact that it has bought out this story, but just completely ruined it..by putting up a picture! The helpless mother should have given some privacy after the demise of her son, however heinous the crime he did! I do not for a second pray for his soul to rest in pease, but the parents must be given some privacy!
I may sound cold-hearted, but i feel these parents deserve this for bringing up sons like the Satan! Parents and family values play an extremely important role in shaping the mentality and attitude of a person. They form the foundation of a person's behaviour. Peer group and society come next. By the time children come in contact with friends and society, the family values form the basis of their judgment and conscience. However, if the foundation is weak, the rest of it crumbles. Sorry to say, but I somehow can’t feel pity towards these parents.
at least The Hindu shouldnt have published their pics.
The insensitivity of the media towards the right to privacy of the parents of the accused is downright indecent and foul.
Does it have to take an old, illiterate and helpless woman, even if she happens to be the mother and survivor of a son, crime-accused and now suspiciously dead, to fold her hands and beg to be excused from the jarring din and glare of sensationalisation, which these days is crowned as incisive news reporting? Is not the weight and depth of her misfortune something the members of the press cannot understand or is it that the media (and society) have branded entire families as criminals and so have apportioned to themselves the arrogant right to turn the miseries of the accuseds' families into a putrid national spectacle.
How is the publication of this photograph justifiable after the subjects
just said "Leave us alone and please go"?
It's crass and intrusive. One expects higher standards from The Hindu.
Better for the media to leave their parents alone....or please help them
for coping with the trauma they must be undergoing.... They should be
facing mental trauma for a long time since the unfortunate incident
invloving their sons....but they should be spared of carrying their
children's sin...
I can't believe this. Yes, they are in grieve of their son's unnatural death but how could they forget that it was the 23-year old physiotherapy student who was actually brutally murdered. She was brave-hearted but Ram Singh was not. He didn't have enough courage to face his own wrongdoings.
If they did not want their photos to be taken..why did you take it.Please respect a persons privacy.
Let the family live in peace. You do not need to publish any photo of parents of accused.
Soon this news-media will kill his parents too. I don't understand why
media is running after them? As his mother is pleading, leave them
alone please. It would be great if news-media can focus much on issues
related to "education and health".
In most of the cases death is the worst punishment for those who are left behind.
I feel sorry for the parents who gave birth to such a monster they are
freed from such a nasty person who did such a vile thing, may god help
them now in their old age
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