This is the TODAY report on 11 February 2014, on the case of Indian construction worker Chinnappa Vijayaragunatha Poopathi who has been sentenced to 15 weeks in jail for failing to disperse during the riot in Little India last December.
The report’s headline says:
“Little India rioter gets 15 weeks in jail”
And the first paragraph of the report says:
“A 15-week jail term was yesterday handed down to an Indian national implicated in the Dec 8 Little India riot.”
So you go find out what acts of rioting he committed, and whether he was charged for rioting.
And then you find out these, in the same report:
Oh, so he wasn’t charged for rioting under the Riot Act. Instead, he was charged for “failing to disperse” under Section 151 of the Penal Code.
But surely the TODAY newspaper can’t be wrong? So, you check again, and you find this:
Lets repeat that:
“Chinnappa was initially charged with rioting, which carries a maximum penalty of seven years’ jail and caning. But his charge was later amended to failing to disperse…”
But you want to be doubly sure, and you find this:
So, the facts are:
Chinnappa was not charged for rioting.
He was not even in the vicinity of the riot which took place.
He did not engage in any acts of rioting, as the judge said: “He was not involved in any egregious acts of violence or damage to any property. He also did not impede emergency rescue operations or assistance being rendered to those injured..”
So, how is it that TODAY says he was “implicated” in the riot, and labelled him a “rioter” in its report’s headlines?
The only thing apparently which Chinnappa seems to be guilty of is to shout at the canteen employees to open up the canteen.
It is not even clear if the police had directly warned him to disperse.
Read the right thing, folks.
Read The Right Thing
*The author blogs at http://readtherightthing.wordpress.com