Setting the record straight: Countering the misreportage on NLU Jodhpur student’s death

A number of news reports are doing the rounds on the death of a fourth-year student of the National Law University, Jodhpur..Publications like the Times of India, The Hindu, NewsX and ScoopWhoop (which has deleted the story and published a corrigendum), among others, have been called out for falsely reporting on the cause of death of the student, Pranita Mehta..What is worse is that these reports are terming the tragic accident as a ‘selfie death’..For instance, the ToI report rather callously says that Pranita fell out of a lighthouse, attempting to take ‘the perfect selfie’, while on holiday in Gokarna, Karnataka..In an attempt to set the record straight, Bar & Bench spoke to Vinayak Pannikar, a friend of Pranita’s and a graduate of NLU Jodhpur..He said,.“A lot of news reports state that she fell out of a lighthouse while taking a selfie. None of this is true; it is not indicated anywhere in the post-mortem report. .If she had fallen from a height, there would be some sort of injury, but the report or the FIR makes no mention of this. The cause of death is recorded as asphyxiation due to drowning..None of the news reports say that she was struggling in the water for 30-40 minutes after being taken in by a wave.”.The facts, as recorded in the FIR, state that Pranita and four of her friends travelled to Gokarna on May 28. From there, they went to the lighthouse on Belekan beach, where they sat on some rocks near the sea. A strong wave suddenly came and carried Pranita into the water. The friends attempted to save her, and called out for help to the fishermen in the area. The body was then discovered 25-30 minutes later and brought to shore, where she was declared dead..As Vinanyak mentioned, the post-mortem report does not record any serious injuries, save for a few abrasions..In an attempt to hold the media houses accountable for misreporting, Vinayak has appealed to various ministers, including Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley via social media..Thus far, he is yet to receive a response..Read the FIR copy below.