Mention Of ‘Upper Caste Men’ In Hathras, But Only ‘Men’ In Balrampur: That’s CNN, NYTimes, BBC And Bloomsberg For You

Is it a mere co-incidence that reports by global publications such as BBC, New York Times and CNN mentioned ‘upper caste men’ as accused in the alleged gangrape-murder case in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district but wrote only ‘men’ as accused in a similar case in UP’s Balrampur district where accused are Muslims?

While any casual observer of the global publications writing on India already suspects that their coverage is significantly pro-Muslim in that it invariably paints Muslims as victims of a Hindu aggression and almost never reports violence committed by Muslims, the coverage of recent rape-murder cases in UP in these publications confirms the suspicion.

Let’s check CNN first. The headline says ‘A second Dalit woman has died after alleged gang rape, sparking outrage and protests across India’.

The report has been written by Jessie Yeung, whose Twitter bio says she is ‘digital producer’ with the publications and covers Asia Pacific, and Esha Mitra, whose Twitter bio says she has previously worked with The Hindu and Deccan Herald.

The report mentions that the four accused in Hathras case were “from an upper caste community”. However, in Balrampur case, the report identifies the accused simply as “two men”.

Now, let’s see the coverage of New York Times. Titled ‘Woman Dies in Delhi After Gang Rape, Fueling Outrage Again in India’, the report has been written by Hari Kumar and Emily Schmall.

Again, the accused in Hathras case are identified as “higher caste men”, while those in Balrampur are just “two men”.

Now, let’s take a look at BBC.

Well, the same pattern is seen there. The report is titled, Balrampur: Anger grows after new India 'gang rape' death.

While the accused in Hathras case are mentioned as ‘“upper-caste men”, the accused in Balrampur case are just “two men”.

Another global publication, Bloomsberg, which operates in India in partnership with Quint which is owned by Raghav Bahl, fares no differently. In its report, titled ‘Protests Erupt in India Following Woman’s Death in Rape Case, the accused are mentioned as “upper caste” in Hathras case, but have not been identified in Balrampur case.

Besides the failure to identify the perpetrators in Balrampur case as Muslims, the reports also make a commentary on the Hindu caste system, abolished by law in 1950.

In the absence of identifying perpetrators in cases cited, the commentary makes it look like it is only the upper-caste men who have committed the alleged atrocities in Dalits.

Here’s CNN:

Here’s BBC:

Here’s New York Times:

Here’s Bloomberg: