On Jiah Khan’s suicide

Happened to read Mahesh Murthy’s comments on Jiah Khan suicide episode in Facebook and got to say that it is insensitive and ignorant in most parts. Ignorant because he writes off the accusation on Suraj Pancholi totally and insensitive because he blames the bereaved mother of Jiah for the ‘massive cover-up of her guilt’. Murthy says that he doesn’t care about either party but after reading his note, one can clearly see whose side he is on but it is unclear why.

Agreed that Suraj cannot be blamed for not wanting to marry Jiah or deciding to breakup with her. Whether he was a womanizer or not is immaterial. Even whether her suicide was a result of just a relationship breakup shouldn’t put him on trial I believe. But with the same information that is available to all of us including Murthy in the public domain (he claims that he has no other information on the case than what is already there on the public domain), he should have also read about her mother’s accusation that Jiah was physically abused and that they were living together (domestic violence, anyone?). Read that along with Jiah’s mention of Suraj wanting to abuse her or threatening to hit her. Still no conclusion there, at least not until the police finding comes out, but these are reasons for the police to question Pancholi Jr. But what does Mahesh Murthy say? Suraj was only ‘wanting to’ or ‘threatening to’. If we are to pick up words, then we should pick this up too, from Jiah’s letter – “you kicked me in the face”. Why skip that Mr. Murthy? It should also be noted that though Mr. Murthy had no qualms in finding Jiah ‘vain / foolish / crazy / vulnerable’, he doesn’t have any of those words for Suraj.

What is more outrageous is that Mahesh Murthy puts all the blame on the girl’s mother ‘for not doing her duty’, along with her friends and family for not helping her. Some individuals choose not to share what they go through in their life, even with their most loved ones. They keep it all to themselves. To frame it as irresponsibility of a parent or to accuse their friends for not being supportive in all cases is totally insensitive, particularly in a situation like this. I had a friend who was very close to me and to whom I spoke to just 3 days before he hung himself in another city but I never knew that he was going to do it. He had responsible parents and supportive friends too.

So it’s just a little early to jump to conclusions, particularly when the only information Mr. Murthy has is the information available on the public domain. Or if he is giving Suraj Pancholi a benefit of doubt or support, why not extend that to Jiah and her mother too?

Update: Suraj Pancholi admits to beating Jiah Khan