Namrata Borah and the Collapse of Conscience: How Media Hysteria and Moral Policing Betrayed a Tragedy

The tragic death of Namrata Borah, a young woman from Assam, has triggered outrage of sensational narratives and public moral judgment, all of which speaks about the society we inhabit today. What began as a case of road accident and allegations from Namrata Borah’s family of foul play was quickly hijacked and twisted into a tale of communal tension, cultural panic, and gender bias, often without a shred of verified fact or even basic human empathy.

At the outset, social media and certain media outlets rushed to label the case as one of “love jihad,” trying to portray that Namrata was romantically involved with the son of an AIUDF MLA. The implication was unmistakable: a Hindu girl had supposedly fallen prey to a Muslim boy’s calculated manipulation. This inflammatory narrative was repeated and amplified, feeding the fires of communal hatred and division, all without verification or restraint.

Then, reality interrupted the fiction. A video emerged of Namrata dancing joyfully with Mriganka, a Hindu man. The flimsy “love jihad” claim collapsed instantly. Yet those who had peddled this narrative didn’t pause for reflection or express remorse. Instead, they pivoted.

Now, the focus became moral scrutiny. “Why was a girl with boys late at night in Shillong?” they asked. Such questions flared all over the social media. The communal outrage seamlessly transformed into cultural judgment. Society, ever eager to sit in judgment, turned its gaze from her religion to her morality, dissecting her choices, questioning her character, and policing her lifestyle.

This transition, from media trial to moral trial, exposes a deeper and more insidious societal rot. Instead of mourning a young life lost and demanding a fair, thorough investigation, we watched as Namrata and her friends were dragged through the mud in the court of public opinion. Baseless accusations, whisper campaigns, and wild conspiracy theories have drowned out calls for justice.

It is disturbing how our society's instinct for moral policing, particularly when it involves young women who exercise agency over their lives. Why does a woman being out late with male friends provoke such uproar? Why is her morality treated as a matter of  concern? The shift from religious suspicion to gendered scrutiny underscores how quickly we move to control and shame women — not to protect them, but to punish them, even in death.

Namrata’s story is no longer just about how she died. It’s about what we did or failed to do. It is a mirror reflecting the things we are too afraid to confront: communal polarisation, the collapse of media ethics, and the mindset that continues to dictate how women are expected to live, and die.

Her life, reduced to viral videos and sensational headlines, deserved better. She deserved to be remembered as a human being, not as a pawn in the game of outrage and division.

This is more than a failure of the media ethics. It is a collective collapse of empathy. We failed to protect her dignity in life, and have violated it in death. In a grotesque public spectacle, many people shared without pause, and became spectators, even participants.

Now, we must ask ourselves: Do we truly seek truth, or are we addicted to outrage? Are we protecting the vulnerable, or punishing them for being vulnerable? Until we begin to answer these questions - honestly, courageously - Namrata Borah will not be the last to suffer in the shadows of our silence.