‘It was like Nikita hadn’t been murdered’ – why reporting guidelines matter

Tarang Chawla is trying to find the words to describe coping with both the murder of his little sister by her partner and the simultaneous media ambush.

“Two worlds are playing out,” he explains. “One is the shock and horror of processing your grief – the mixed emotions of denial and anger and blame and everything else you go through when you lose a loved one to a violent crime.” The other was the journalists acting as messengers, speculating on the killer’s motives while circling for a scoop. “Families aren’t aware this could play out on a national or international scale. There was a lack of compassion.”

Tarang with his sister, Nikita