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many people lose thier lives violently unfortunately and it is right that the 'system' does what it can to right a terrble wrong. i feel a sense of unquiet though with the lengths that are been gone to regarding the tragic murder of Anuj Bidve. within seven days a man has been arrested and appeared in court which is a strong positive. is it right though that the police should send a team to india for 1 two hour meeting with the family to explian thier actions? is it right that the family are flowen to the uk? is it right that they are invited to the houses of parliament to speak to a minister?
perhaps the answer is yes. If so why are'nt those same courtesies extended to all bereaved families at home and abroad. How many other grieving relatives are invited to the houses of parliament and recive a commitment form a minister that a further investigation will be carried out post criminal procedings?
How many families get to find out about their child's death on Facebook, before the police have even been in touch?
Kettle's on. It's my birthday at the weekend, so I brought doughnuts into work today. Anyone want one?
How many families get to find out about their child's death on Facebook, before the police have even been in touch?
Unfortunate, but not exactly the Police's fault, I'd say. Does seem a tad OTT, but it's a PR nightmare in a time when the police are under fire from many angles.
In fairness to the police, they're not in control of facebook (are they ?? 😯 ) and the death was likely reported by FB "friends" before plice released his name officially. I'd like to imagine they were at least trying to contact the family.How many families get to find out about their child's death on Facebook, before the police have even been in touch?
My mates brother found out that his wife had been killed in a car crash on the local news. He didnt get any special treatment.
Yes it's not the police's fault that they heard on FB, but it does complicate the situation, which I imagine has lead to the way it's been handled.
The Police can't win this one. If they don't go to India, etc then it will be claimed that they are treating the victims of crime with no sympathy. If they do then it is claimed to be too much!
Perhaps we should respect that the Police are trying to do the right thing.
No win situtation really. Seems a bit OTT response tho
With my cynic hat on, maybe GMPolice aren't savvy. Foreign student = Big, big, big money industry. India = large market. This is a very big story in India, bad for business.
With my cynic hat on, maybe GMPolice aren't savvy. Foreign student = Big, big, big money industry. India = large market. This is a very big story in India, bad for business.
I think that will definitely be an issue. Political pressure from above.
I was thinking along these lines where it started kicking off.
Sentiments pretty much as above really. Nowt more to add.
Keith Vaz is using it as an issue to raise his own profile, and its obvious grandstanding on his part.
I can't understand why a simple statement such as "While we don't believe the police did anything wrong, we will look at procedures to see if there is anything that can be done to improve communication in this kind of rare event in the future" isn't issued (and followed through on). It really does irritate when politicians seek to advance themselves through the suffering of others.
Yeah it might seem unfair but you could argue that it's essentially good for the British economy to keep good relations with India regarding foreign students, and maybe wider business. How can this be seen as a bad thing? It seems plausible that the costs of this PR operation will be more than outweighed by the gains in keeping foreign students coming here. All good IMHO.
What confused me was why did the British high commission in India not ago and see the family and apologise. What was the need for the Manchester police to fly over. Is the high commissioners job not to represent the government and country in India. Would have saved a ton of money and not really the polices fault that one of his friends decided to post on Facebook instead of contacting the family first.
I think it might be related to a very high profile trial that has just concluded.
My mates brother found out that his wife had been killed in a car crash on the local news. He didnt get any special treatment.
My friend's parents were told that their son had been killed in a car crash overseas by his employer, not by the police, despite the local police station having been informed. Apparently it is not, in fact, the police's job to pass on news of death - fair enough.
But more relevantly to the question - academia and tourism are massive, massive industries in the UK. Indian media and politicians are already very sensitive (arguably, easy political point scoring) about (perceived or actual) racist abuse following a stream of highly-publicised (perceived or actual) racially-motivated attacks on Indian students in Australia.
If, for example, a nuclear power plant had been broken into, no-one would think it odd if plod sent a liaison across to the plant operator's HQ for a couple of days.
Can't comment on the governments actions re the family meeting with Keith Vaz but I have worked on a number of enquiries where foreign nationals have been killed or seriously assaulted and the only case I can recall where GMP didn't fly family members over was when the family lived in Helmand Province and it was at the height of the war. On that occasion British Embassy officials were taken by Special Forces to meet the family.
Edit. It is usually a requirement in ANY murder enquiry to obtain an antecedents history from the family. The Family Liaison Officer would usually obtain this in the form of a statement.