False allegations ? Enough is Enough!

One needs not be an expert in human rights to know that a police arrest based on unfounded information or mere suspicion is purely arbitrary. False allegations as well as convictions based on them have become an epidemic in Mauritius. Many innocent people are being wrongly accused and their lives in consequence are being turned upside down without due justification. Nobody is spared ? not even the top citizens of the country. However, the difference is that the more influential victims stand a better chance of being released on bail while the less fortunate ones would be kept in police custody or would just rot in jail. The Prime Minister has been harping on the same note on countless occasions accusing some news publishers of diffusing unfounded information. Baseless allegations tarnish the reputation of an individual, discredit him in the face of society, inflict moral torture to the victim and his family and result in irreparable damage to his professional status. How many cases of alleged charges have been proved right and prosecuted in this country? I would say nil up to now. Then, is it not high time to put and end once and for all the defamation of these sorts?

What is even more frustrating is that we live in a society whereby allegations are very often taken for Gospel Truth, notwithstanding the character of the person making the allegations, whether he is a notorious convict, drug dealer or someone who is seeking political gain or has some other vested interests. Instead of being prosecuted for false and malicious denunciation, these people are just left unpunished while the victims of false allegations are left to repair the damage by spending large sums of money hiring lawyers.

The Radio Privées should be called upon to play a more responsible role by not diffusing sensational yet unfounded news. Only recently, a Radio Privée broadcast the declaration made by a Director of a Corporation against a Director of a Private Company. The Radio Privée was already announcing that the Director of the Private Company had been convened for police enquiry and was already giving a statement at the CCID, which was completely untrue. At that particular time, the person was in Rose Hill, driving his children to school and had not even been convened by the police for any enquiry. He then came to know that the declaration made was only a precautionary measure which did not require any explanation. The same sensational news were also published by a supposedly responsible newspaper in the afternoon on the same day itself. The reporter did not hesitate to publish rubbish in this respect in bold character on the front page together with a photograph of the person in the second page.

Are private radios not accountable for the integrity of information they diffuse? Are they mandated to inform the public or to induce the public in error? The media people should imagine themselves in the shoes of victims of false allegations. Are they not exposed in a society where information disemination is very often being made in an injudicious manner? We often ask ourselves the source of their information. Certainly these information are not coming from a responsible Police Press Officer since the latter is bound by work ethics to communicate well-founded information to the press. The source of information is therefore to be verified and it is high time we put an end to such baseless allegations. Enough is enough!

Vishnu APPADOO