Not often have members of the print and audio- visual media been penalised to the extent that they are put in prison. But in the case of one journalist this happened. And Jigna Vora has told her story in `Behind Bars in Byculla.` Her book was taken up for discussion In July by the book club.
Jigna Vora is a Bombay based journalist who began her career with the Free Press Journal and shifted first to Mid- Day and then joined the Asian Age. The presentation was made by Chandni Luthra and Vichitra Sharma, both former Times of India journalists. In turn they discussed Jigna’s career.
She was initially planning to take up law as a career, and then decided on the print media. Jigna did her training for a year at Somaiya College in Mumbai . And thereafter joined the staff of a newspaper. She began to make a mark by providing front page news- stories, and often scoops, to her boss, Husain Zaidi, in Asian Age who is mentioned on the cover of Jigna`s book. Her troubles started when she began to unfold stories on the two gangsters, rather underworld dons, Chota Rajan and Dawood Ibrahim. The first hint of a threat to her was made clear when her colleague J. Dey , executive editor at Mid – Day , one of the top crime reporters, was killed by one of the underworld dons.
In fact, Jigna was framed for his murder, arrested under MCOCA [ Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act], even as it was widely believed that Chota Rajan was responsible for his death. The theory was that Jigna was the one who instigated Chota Rajan to kill him.Apparently, she emailed J Dey’s details to Chota Rajan. The case was heard over a period of seven years, a part of which Jigna spent in prison. She was acquitted on all charges Chota Rajan and eight others were convicted under MCOCO.
The discussion that followed revolved around the pressure that Jigna was under to provide front page stories. Dr Gautam Vohra asked Chandni and Vichita that as journalists did they feel the pressure that Jigna did to produce such major news reports. It was possible they were laid back about their careers, while Jigna was obviously very ambitious.
Anil Nauriya, also a former journalist and now a lawyer, said that the pressure on journalism and journalists had increased. All newspapers and hence their staff were more competitive than two decades ago. That was the difference. Kavita Charanji , Neloufer Tekcahnd, Sumanjit Choudhry went on to describe how they felt standards in newspaper reporting had declined, not improved, while Ajay Tankha and Suhas Boker held the contrary view. The arguments continued alte into the evening, Since then Netflix has been telecasting Jigna’s story under the serial Scoop.
