When "journalist" Barkha Dutt ended up endangering the lives of 100s during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack!

Everyone knows how Barkha Dutt, the so-called journalist had made a huge blunder during the Kargil war. Since that blunder, everyone felt that Kargil's experience would have made the so-called journalist mature about these aspects but OLD HABITS DIE HARD! She again dug her own grave by repeating the same mistake during the Mumbai 26/11 terror attack. Let us know here how exactly she made this grave mistake that endangered 100s of peoples' lives stuck in areas where Pak-based terrorists attacked.

 

 

Barkha Dutt, the former NDTV journalist, in one of the videos of the coverage of 26/11, can be heard reporting that “her sources are on the 19th floor where the terrorists are currently in their murderous frenzy”. She didn’t blink or hesitate for a second before giving such a crucial bit of information live. How can a media person stoop so low during one of the biggest terror attacks that happened in India?

 

 

During an interview, she accepted the media's role in endangering the lives of civilians as well as security personnel by not restraining themselves during the telecast. Barkha admits that perhaps in hindsight, journalists made mistakes during the Mumbai siege. However, she then again tried to cover up the issue, saying that the media wasn’t aware that the handlers of the terrorists were monitoring news channels.

 

When interviewed later by a left-liberal journalist at Newslaundry, Barkha remained unapologetic for her role in the attacks. She said, without offering an apology or admission of mistake, “The Oberoi story, I do remember having said at some point… not the exact number but when they was confusion over the fact that the hotel has been cleared, I did say that no, we still have reasons to believe that there are people who are trapped as hostages. That I did say. I don’t believe I was the only one who said it. Journalists across the board said that.”

 

 

 

When blogger Chaitanya Kunte had questioned her journalistic ethics, the "journalist" has sent a legal notice to him and threatened him to take down the post. Speaking about the same in the interview, she said she did not regret sending Kute a legal notice as the blog accused her of being complicit in death of someone in Mumbai during that terror attack.

 

 

Interestingly, the Supreme Court too agreed that the media’s role during 26/11 was irresponsible and dangerous. It had slammed the media for its role in compounding the severity of the attacks by dedicating an entire section to it. The apex court in Md. Ajmal Md. Amir Kasab vs the State Of Maharashtra case on 29 August 2012 observed, “From the transcripts, especially those from Taj Hotel and Nariman House, it is evident that the terrorists who were entrenched at those places and more than them, their collaborators across the border were watching the full show on TV. In the transcripts there are many references to the media reports and the visuals being shown on the TV screen.”

 

At another place in the transcript, the collaborators tell the terrorists in Taj Hotel that the dome at the top (of the building) had caught fire. The terrorists holed up in some room were not aware of this. The collaborators further advise the terrorists that the stronger they make the fire the better it would be for them.

 

The court further went on to say that it is not possible to find out whether the security forces actually suffered any casualty or injuries on account of the way their operations were being displayed on the TV screen. But it is beyond doubt that the way their operations were freely shown made the task of the security forces not only exceedingly difficult, but also dangerous and risky.

 

What's more ironic is that a few months after the 26/11 blunder, the Sonia Gandhi-led Manmohan Singh government bestowed the Padma Award 2009 on "Dutt" for her reporting style.