Dumb & Dumber

Press Council of India Chairman Justice Markandey Katju has stirred a hornet’s nest after blasting the Indian media as shallow and irresponsible and asserting that most Indians are dumb. Katju said: “Unfortunately most people in India are of a very low intellectual level, steeped in casteism, communalism, superstitions and all kinds of feudal and backward ideas.”

He was equally harsh on the media: “Many channels show cricket day in and day out. Cricket is really the opium of the Indian masses. The Roman Emperors used to say ‘If you cannot give the people bread give them circuses.’”

He complained that Indian media fcused on trivial entertainmewnt, glamour and cricket stories to the exclusion of serious public issues: “Our media …

turns a Nelson’s eye to the harsh economic realities facing upto 80 per cent of our people, and instead concentrates on some Potempkin villages where all is glamour and show biz. Our media is largely like Queen Marie Autoinette, who when told that the people have no bread, said that they could eat cake.”

ng it to make her give up her job, gain weight and stay indoors and make her want you and rely on you. It was a well-planned exercise and you say you gave her the steroids at least four or five times. It’s had a terrible effect on her, causing long-term emotional harm.”

His lawyer acknowledged: ‘It’s a truly bizarre case. He’s deeply embarrassed and appalled, ashamed and bitterly regrets it. He did it so she’d gain weight to get back to the pattern of their life, so she’d cook dinner and look after the children, so she wouldn’t go out for walks to lose weight….. Yes, he was controlling in the relationship and however much you may disapprove it as a way to conduct affairs in modern Britain, it’s something that exists in some parts of some communities. I’m not an apologist for it, but it’s not in itself against the law.”