RTI on NCB?
NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede bursts the myth of people and media that NCB is only targeting celebrities after the Sushant Singh Rajput case.
After Sharukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was arrested by the NCB at a rave party on Saturday night where he was found with various illegal substances (drugs), the media and public have started questioning authority itself, some news channels and people on social media have even blamed NCB for being biased and for only targeting the Bollywood celebrities after the death of Sushant Singh Rajput in which Reha Chakraborty, her brother Showik Chakraborty and many other well-known faces of the industry were linked in the demand and supply of illegal materials.
To this the Zonal Director of Narcotics Control Bureau Sameer Wankhede bashed the myths of people who were trash-talking on social media and news; In the latest interview with ET times he mentioned that according to the files SSR’s case was ‘number:16’ and after that, they have registered 105 cases and made more than 310 arrest but no one records that and rather are interested in the celebrity arrests, “In the last year, we have booked a total of 105 cases in 10 months. That’s an average of 10-12 cases every month. Now you tell me, out of those 105 cases, how many are celebrities? I’ll tell a handful of them at best. This year alone, we’ve made more than 310 arrests. How many of those are celebrities? Everyone would know because that’s the only thing that is talked about. We’ve seized illegal substances worth Rs 150 crores this year. Has anyone spoken about that?” He said.
Is NCB targeting celebrities?
The officer talked about several major cases that do not include any Bollywood celebrity and how they were not covered by the media as it didn’t show them glamour or TRP. He mentioned the time when they busted a Nigerian drug cartel where one of his staff members was seriously injured, “There’s a valid reason though. When we arrest someone, the media will play it up only when the arrested person is a known face. But instead of appreciating our efforts, we get blamed for targeting that popular celeb,” he said.
He mentioned that dealing with the perception is something different than facing the reality as there are very few big names in the drug cases, “This case(Aryan Khan’s case) has become a huge spectacle. But, after case number 16, (the official assigned case number for the Sushant Singh Rajput drugs case), today was crime number 105. Do you realize the sheer magnitude of the volume of violations? Why are people not talking about the other cases that we crack down on to eradicate the drug's menace? Nobody is interested in reporting the ‘unglamorous’ cases or even discussing the regular cases. Why?” he questioned.
Thus he made a distinctive line as to deal and enquire anyone in the suspect list irrespective of their position or power is a part of their job and not something to interfere with.
A perspective:
In a democracy, the opposition, media, and people must question the works done by the government or any government-run authority to keep a check on the proper functioning of the same so it is the right of any individual or a group to raise and ask the obvious visible aspects of any case.
Writer’s verdict:
It is right that India is one of the largest democracies of the world where media and opposition play an adequate role in keeping a check on the proper functioning of the government. In this case, where media is raising question from NCB might seem right but it must be kept it in mind to not ignore the facts that are related with the other work of the working body.
From a consumer’s perspective, media should just focus on raising the level of searches for facts and providing people with information rather than running for TRP
Media’s Perspective:
Media is a form by which information is delivered to people in the form of news and as the celebrities have a large fan base and a huge number of following of various social media platforms, Media did the right thing to question the NCB as through the interview of Mr. Sameer Wakhende people now know the duties fulfilled by the bureau is not at all biased or targeted words any one group.
Tell us what do you think?
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