THIS is apropos of the recent news of a kidnapped Ukrainian woman being recovered by the police. This is an unfortunate story of a Ukrainian woman who married a Pakistani, had children, and after five years of living in Rawalpindi was abducted, taken to Tharparkar and forcibly held there for three years.

I read this story in the online version of Dawn. When I scrolled down to the comments, some of them contained various insinuations about the character of the woman and the reasons for her living in Pakistan, all that despite the fact that her family situation was fully described in the news item.

Also, I felt uneasy looking at the image of the woman. Nowadays, it is widely acknowledged that victims of crime suffer additional trauma because of how their story is reported in the press. All over the world, steps are taken to protect the identity of a victim. It doesn’t seem ethically correct to use the image of a woman who obviously has not yet recovered from the shock and grief caused by her abduction.

How would she be feeling reading these comments or looking at her photograph? How would her family be feeling? Would one like a story of any of one’s family members to be presented in such a way?

I would therefore request the Dawn team to pay attention to, and conduct necessary moderation of, online comments — as well as to exercise discretion while publishing photographs of women in distress. Readers should respect victims and read the report before commenting upon it.

Tina Khan
(Social worker)
Peshawar

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2016