Guwahati journo faces flak for ‘objectionable’ post on social media
Guwahati-based journalist Nandan Pratim Sharma Bordoloi faced the ire of Twitter and Facebook users after he posted an image of two girls in traditional attires standing in front of a liquor shop, on Twitter.
Bordoloi uploaded the image on the micro- blogging site with a comment ‘Picture of the day. No caption…”
The photograph was taken from behind and it purportedly showed two women in front of a liquor shop.
Even though Bordoloi has not clearly said anything, the post apparently hinted that buying liquor from wine shop by women is not right.
The blatant and outrageous post, however, has not gone down well on social media as Twitterati, dubbed the post as ‘’sexist and unethical’’.
Social networking site Facebook as well has been flooded with comments condemning the news anchor’s bizarre post.
Bordoloi is a news editor of an Assamese satellite channel with its headquarters in Guwahati.
“What sort of mentality do these moral policers have!” commented Local KungFu-famed actor-director Kenny Basumatary.
Another Facebook post by Quisar Farhan Rafique read, “The apex court declared right to privacy as a fundamental right. I hope the women in the picture file a writ petition against the one who filed it.”
The Guwahati Metro Community Facebook page shared the post and pointed out, “Why this picture? What Assamese reporters want to prove? What you want to show? People dying of poverty, freaking report that! People are getting harassed and molested everywhere, report that! People are dying in cold, kids are on the streets begging for a morsel, report that!”
This was seen as an attempt at sensationalizing of news and making it ‘viral.’
Jhonalli Takar commented, “Chauvinistic, patriarchal mindset of middle aged middle class Assamese who know nothing but to moral police and give unsolicited advices to ‘spoilt new generation kids’.”
Bhaskar Das said, “Our Assamese journalists do not have proper news, they are waste of our society like GMC garbage…”
Most of people who commented termed the post as “highly objectionable.”
Sharply reacting to the incident, Guwahati-based researcher Uddipan Dutta said this reminds one of the chilling incidents on GS Road in Guwahati where a girl coming out of a bar was sexually assaulted by bystanders apparently under the instigation of a TV reporter and crew.
A mob had attacked and molested the 20-year-old girl, who was coming out of the bar in Guwahati in 2012. The case had drawn attention across the nation due to the insensitivity that the local media showed towards her.
Instead of preventing the perpetrators from doing the heinous crime, the cameras kept rolling and the questions kept coming.
“The patriarchy under the guise of sub-nationalism has tried to impose so-called morality in Assam ever since the days of Assam movement,” Dutta told Northeast Now.
“It is heartening to see that the assigned gender roles have been questioned and moral policing by powerful people working in electronic media has been slammed,” he added.
Condemning the post, eminent journalist and Editor of The Shillong Times Patricia Mukhim posted on Facebook with a hashtag #AssamTVMedia#
“Stop stalking women who buy booze. Don’t you have anything better to do, you jerks? Down with the patriarchal media,” she said.
After the post went viral on social media and drew sharp criticism from netizens, Bordoloi has removed the post from his Twitter handle and has tendered apology.
“I am sorry that one of my photo updates has annoyed many of you. It was never intentional to hurt anybody. Though it should not to be done from my part. I withdraw this whole update and sincere apologies to you,” he tweeted.
Bordoloi was, however, not available for comment despite repeated attempts from Northeast Now. His mobile was found switched off.
Acting as the ‘custodian of Indian culture’, a leading Assamese news channel, had aired a report in August, 2015 which explicitly showed women, as young as schoolgirls, wearing shorts and short skirts and compared them to monkeys who cannot keep clothes on themselves.
The report was slammed for its ‘misogynistic’ undertones, attempt at moral policing, and for filming young women without their consent, Firstpost reported.
