Lance Naik Roy Mathew, a gunner with the Indian army, stationed in Deolali allegedly hanged himself in an abandoned barrack in the Deolali Army Cantonment last week. He was only 33 years old.

Pakistan did not kill Lance Naik Roy Mathew. 

War did not kill him either. 

It was shoddy, unscrupulous journalism that forced Lance Naik Roy Mathew to take his own life! 

As per his family, Lance Naik Roy Mathew was filmed without his consent or knowledge in a dubious sting-op by a news website, The Quint. The video of the sting-op came out on February 23rd and Roy Mathew went missing on February 25th.  Roy Mathew last spoke to his wife Finny on February 25th. He is said to have told his wife that he was upset about the video. His wife, Finny, said he was crying over the phone. 

A reporter from The Quint had performed a sting operation on some jawans in the Deolali Army Cantonment about the Indian army’s British-era ‘sahayak’ or buddy-system. The story in question “Soldier or Servant?” has since then being taken down by The Quint. The Quint even had the audacity to report about Roy Mathew’s death, without mentioning once that they were responsible for the questionable story that forced Roy Mathew to commit suicide. Since the news of Roy Mathew’s tragic suicide broke, The Quint has maintained a studied silence on the issue and the journalist who was responsible for the story, one Poonam Agarwal has gone underground. 

John, the younger brother of soldier who committed suicide has clearly blamed the media for his brother’s death. A report in the Indian Express quotes John as saying, ‘media cheated him…. Roy never knew that the journalist was secretly shooting him.’

The tragic suicide of Lance Naik Roy Mathew raises serious questions about the credibility of mainstream media in India. How ethical is it to film soldiers without their knowledge or consent?

The army clearly and understandably blames the media for the death of Roy Mathew. The army has also categorically stated that no enquiry had been ordered against Roy Mathew because the faces of the soldiers were blurred in the video. However, it is clear from the accounts of Roy Mathew’s family members that he was feeling humiliated and scared when the story broke.

The question is, if The Quint believes it is right in doing the story, why did it feel the need to take it down? A rudimentary google search reveals that The Quint has deleted both the English as well as Hindi versions of the story and the video from its site. When The Quint published a report about Roy Mathew being found dead, why did it fail to mention that it was their story that pushed Roy Mathew to commit suicide?

The silence of the mainstream media over the suicide of Lance Naik Roy Mathew is even more damning. Except for a heartfelt and impassioned piece by Shiv Aroor in DailyO and an excellent opinion piece by Sreemoy Talukdar in FirstPost the MSM has largely been united in their conspiracy of silence about the death of Roy Mathew. In fact, some journalists have tried to paint Roy Mathew as a ‘whistleblower,’ quite forgetting the fact that Mathew was filmed without his consent or knowledge. As Sreemoy Talukdar pointed out in his piece, Lance Naik Roy Mathew did not wish to be a whistleblower. A whistleblower is a person who willingly and voluntarily informs on a person or an organization. Roy Mathew only wanted to go about his job! 

The strategy of The Quint seems to have been to lie low and wait for this storm to blow over. After 11th March, everyone will be busy about the state elections results and whatever little media interest there is in the Roy Mathew case will completely wither away. 

Lance Naik Roy Mathew will be soon forgotten, just another statistic lying in some dusty file somewhere. The Quint will be back in business of sting-ops and the journalist who was responsible for this story will soon write a book about how SHE was a victim of so much hate. 

No one will remember Roy Mathew. After all, he is just an ordinary soldier who was forced to kill himself, thanks to a shoddy, unscrupulous news story. 

Now compare this to the story of another suicide that rocked India a little more than a year ago. 

Remember Rohith Chakravarti Vemula?  The PhD student from the University of Hyderabad, who committed suicide on 17 January 2016? 

Chances are, you do. Rohith Vemula’s tragic suicide had gained widespread media attention as an alleged case of discrimination against Dalits. News channels organised debates for months, news about his death made front page headlines. The whole nation was talking about the tragic suicide of Rohith Vemula for weeks. A police case was filed against union minister Bandaru Dattatreya, and Appa Rao Podile, the vice-chancellor of the University of Hyderabad for abetment of suicide. Poet Ashok Vajpayee had returned his D.Litt degree awarded to him by the University of Hyderabad holding the University culpable. All politicians from Rahul Gandhi to Arvind Kejriwal had tried to milk Rohith Vemula’s death for political gains. I am not getting into the details of the case, but the disparity in media attention is glaring. 

It has been more than four days since the body of Lance Naik Roy Mathew was found. There has been no front page coverage. There is no confirmation of any FIR filed against The Quint. If the VC of University of Hyderabad can be booked for the suicide of Rohith Vemula, why can’t the CEO of the The Quint and the journalist who filmed story be booked for the abetment of suicide of Lance Naik Roy Mathew if they are found responsible? Why can't an independent probe be ordered to investigate the truth of this matter? 

Lance Naik Roy Mathew and PhD Scholar Rohith Vemula.

Two young Indians, both with a lot of potential.

Both killed themselves under extreme emotional stress. 

Both wanted to live.  

Yet the difference in the treatment and attention given to both cases by the media is glaring.

Rohith Vemula’s death made headlines, sparked off campaigns, dominated the news agenda of the nation for weeks. Lance Naik Roy Mathew’s death is largely ignored and has received scant coverage in the mainstream media. 

This is yet another example of the selective apartheid practiced by the Indian mainstream media. Lengthy lectures about the ‘tragic loss of human life’ are okay as long it suits their carefully scripted narrative. 

Lance Naik Roy Mathew’s death is to be largely ignored by the mainstream media, because it involves speaking up against ‘one of their own!’ An Indian soldier killed himself unable to bear the betrayal by a scavenging, unscrupulous media outfit.

But no one cares. After all, his name was Lance Naik Roy Mathew and he is NOT Rohit Vemula.