The murder of Shaddha Walkar has held all of India in suspense since the arrest, on November 12, of her companion accused of having killed and then dismembered him in May 2022. Victim of physical violence, she had nevertheless alerted the police there is two years.
Somya Lakhani, a journalist with the online news site The Quint, and covering cases of femicide for more than ten years, believes that "the dramatization of this case by the media is appalling".
"At the same time, I think they're just bashing the woman who just died. It's femicide. I mean, you can see it differently but it's femicide," he explains. she to France 24. The journalist also says she is shocked by the lack of sensitivity of Indian television in handling this case.
Political twist
This tragedy has not made it possible to put domestic violence at the heart of the public debate.
Rather, the court case took a political turn.
Because Shraddha Walkar is Hindu, and his companion, Muslim.
Human rights activists are concerned about how these cases target Muslims in the country.
"So instead of looking at it as a case of domestic violence and talking about what needs to be done. The media is playing a major role in polarizing society and they are talking about this case as 'Muslims versus Hindus' and how the Muslim boys attract Hindu women and how they attack and kill them and so on," said human rights activist Shabnam Hashmi.
Talking about domestic violence and feminicides remains taboo in India, however, while nearly a third of women suffer physical or sexual violence.
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