It has been 2 days since the accident that involved Sriram Venkitaraman IAS and killed a journalist. And in 2 days the pro-Sriram campaign by some and anti-Sriram campaign by many have become so unbearable that it is driving me crazy.

On the one hand, people who cannot believe he did it are arguing vehemently how an honest officer like him will never do something like that and it is all a trap. Maybe, yes. But we also need to keep our minds open a tiny bit to accommodate the fact that it might as well be like how it was reported. It might have been a momentary lapse, which coming from him makes it all the more upsetting, nonetheless makes it an ordinary human being’s judgement clouded by alcohol. I wish people would come out of the speculations and conspiracy theories for the moment and wait for the ultimate truth, without accepting or rejecting the current narrative. That is the basic decency we can show the victim’s family.

It is the other side that worries and disgusts me more though. Because they are either too busy painting him as Harvey Dent – the perfect man who turned into a complete villain, or as someone who was bad all along and only put up a façade of goodness to hide his obsession with “alcohol and women”. It is nauseating to think that amidst all that is happening, these people, including every media house, have utter disregard for a man who lost his life in this tragedy. He is the least of their problems. Their priority is “What was an NRI’s wife and model (a profession that in our morally superior people’s eyes is filled with loose women) doing in the car at midnight with Sriram?” The woman’s presence is what has turned Sriram into an immoral super-villain in these saints’ eyes. I wonder if he was in the company of another man, would this even be a breaking news of this magnitude?

Just Googling Sriram Venkitaraman IAS, news pieces and YouTube video links covering the topic “Who is the beauty who seduced Sriram?” flooded my feed. And go to the comments section of any post about him in the last 2 days and you will be overwhelmed by the number of ‘morally upright’ people who have in the most disgusting words written about his alleged illegitimate relationship with a woman who they are hearing of for the first time. Not that it is any of their business or even that there is any logic to such allegations. Their ‘solid proof’ for this unholy relationship that made him a villain is this – “Why would any responsible and noble person call someone else’s wife, only a WhatsApp friend, at midnight to pick him up?” And I was wondering if this accident didn’t happen, no one would even bother. And who says you can only call up a man for help at midnight?? Why the hell can’t someone call his married, female friend for help at night if they are close enough? Why the hell do they HAVE TO be in a relationship for that to happen? It is sickening to see how people’s priority is, was and always will be moral policing and not the real issue at hand!

I have only one request to everyone. It is okay to express your disappointment or your worries, but please have the decency to refrain from unnecessary personal attacks and respect the loss of the victim’s family and the privacy of the accused and his friend. Their personal lives have no relevance here and it is not your place to abuse them to satisfy your morally superior minds. This is not an election and he is not contesting as a candidate. The ‘pro and anti’ campaigns that you have launched are not going to make a difference in how things will turn out. So please end the hatred and the speculations; please wait for the truth. Let the law take its course!