I am overwhelmed by the response to yesterday’s post DAY 668. The number as I write has reached almost 800 and counting. This is not a response of a large number of people incensed and angry, it is the response of a large number of my extended family’s show of strength. The strength of togetherness, solidarity and oneness. It is an army of individuals that has without any exception expressed their utter disgust and disgrace towards the article in the Mumbai Mirror. I salute you in your condemnation of the content, this soiled and unworthy piece of garbage, carried. I salute you for the determination you show in not tolerating this kind of debased journalism. I salute you for giving me the endorsement of my will in standing up for the women in the house, even though they are all quite capable of demonstrating their own individual strength. I salute you in recognizing eventually, that my repeated references to the media and their unjustified utterances, were indeed justifiable. I salute you in all humility and deep reverence, for you have been what I had always believed you to be - my true extended family !!

I wish now to expand on what I had left unfinished yesterday and shall need to bring up visually the article again for ease of reference -

I am taking the liberty of borrowing expressions and words here from those that have responded and say, how could the keepers of the conscience of a nation, the voice of justice and truth, the beacon of integrity, indulge in such an inhumane act, of writing such cruel and wounding lies.

Concocting such lies is utterly unforgivable. How do you Mr Mrs or whatever gender you are, Mumbai Mirror, live after committing such an evil and despicable act. You do not even have the guts to reveal, through a by line who the author of this filth was. Hiding and masquerading under the mask of ‘Mumbai Mirror Bureau’ you have at least been honest enough here in admitting, what the true qualities of your entire set up are - a bunch of scared and cowardly, difficult to call, humans.

Did you ever even pause to think what it means when you invade the privacy of a woman in such a gross manner ? Did you ever realize the insensitivity of bringing to public gaze, false and vicious speculation on the health, fertility and sexuality of a woman, expressed mercilessly on a page you gloriously title as ‘entertainment’ ?

You have like vultures picked unsubstantiated matter for cheap exploitative publicity, which has been beyond any form of abuse. How would you react or feel if your own medical records, or those of your ‘bureau’ inmates, were to be exposed, laced with a load full of invented prurient conditions ?

And what if they were in the category of your own sister, mother or daughter ?

Madam, Ms Meenal Baghel Editor of the Mumbai Mirror,

I write to you concerning your article of Thursday the 18^th of February: Pregnant Pause – Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

I read its content with disbelief and disgust.

You make a series of allegations in the article, reiterated below as follows:

· Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has contracted tuberculosis of the stomach, a most serious disease

· As a consequence of this disease and its treatment, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is unable to conceive and carry a pregnancy, hence bear a child

· Amitabh Bachchan wishes for a grandson and is therefore gender prejudiced not only in his discrimination against the girl child, but also against women, in particular their right to be considered a primary heir of a family

I refute these allegations as absolutely and categorically false in every detail.

These allegations you base on the following information:

· The opinion of an undisclosed and anonymous intimate friend of the Bachchan family

· The mention of tuberculosis on Day 667 of Amitabh Bachchan’s Blog, that tuberculosis is known as the ‘rich man’s disease’

· There is no stated source of information for the allegation that Amitabh Bachchan wishes for a grandson

I counter the legitimacy of these sources with the charge of slander with malicious intent. The reasons for this are the following:

· The opinion of the undisclosed and anonymous family friend of the Bachchan’s is not substantiated or confirmed. At no point has the Mumbai Mirror contacted the family, directly or indirectly, to query this information and verify its accuracy.

· The mention of tuberculosis on the Blog has been cut and pasted out of context. There was no reference in the said dated blog to anyone in the Bachchan family having any ailment whatsoever in the context in which tuberculosis was mentioned.

This is the full passage from which your allegation was drawn:

‘Getting in the sun, allowing it to play with your senses and taking in the warmth of its affectionate glaze, is a blissful moment that many in the urban metropolises tend to overlook. Or perhaps they never are able to find that open space, that little patch of grass that remains exposed to the elements, begs attention and in a sense, occupation. Our air conditioned and weather protected environs of the home and hearth are insidious. They climatize us for comfort, but destroy us for all else. TB or tuberculosis a once dreaded disease would origin from lack of good care and food and contact from those inflicted with it. It is still a dread in many parts of the world, even in the developed world where substance abuse can be one of the causes of it. But there are moments when even though the affluent world lives in protection and isolation from such bacteria, it has been seen to afflict them as well and is, peculiarly, known as ‘the rich mans TB’. Living in enclosed environments and in conditions where there is lack of the fresh air and the exposure to elements, can bring about an infection too.’

· The lack of a source for the extremely serious allegation of gender discrimination on the part of Amitabh Bachchan. It is wholly unsubstantiated. I am the UN Representative for the Girl Child in India and work hard for its cause. The ‘head’ of my family before me was my late mother. The Bachchan family discusses and acts as a collective of equal individuals of equal value and voice.

The unprofessional and slanderous nature of this article in such an esteemed and respected newspaper as the Mumbai Mirror is deeply disturbing. It brings the author of this article into disrepute. It brings the editor that published this article into disrepute. It brings this particular newspaper into disrepute. It brings the profession of journalism into disrepute. This article is in violation of the journalistic norms of conduct as published by the Press Council of India.

Beyond your own disgrace, you have caused grievous distress and harm to the Bachchan family.

You violate the civil right of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to privacy. This right to privacy of the individual is implicit in the right to life and liberty guaranteed to the citizen in Article 21 of the Constitution of India. This right, as you well know, is settled by case law. It is a right to safeguard the privacy of her/his own, her/his family, marriage, procreation, motherhood and child-bearing circumstances, among other things, if they bear not upon the genuine overriding public interest. As it is inarguably the case that the aforementioned article in your newspaper has no value to the public interest, it is therefore illegal to publish anything relating to the above matters without the express consent of the individual concerned, regardless of factual verity. You made neither effort to verify the allegations of the article with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, nor did you seek consent from Aishwarya Rai Bachchan prior to its publication.

Thus the publication of the article is defamatory: it exposes you inter alia to a claim in damages.

I myself claim the right of public response to public allegation. Due to the illicit nature of this slander, I request a retraction and full apology. The full apology comprises

· The names of the individual journalist and chief editor

· The journalist’s and editor’s unqualified retraction and refutation of the contents of the article, specifically the three points outlined in the list of allegations above

· The apology should be addressed to both Aishwarya Rai Bachchan first and specifically, and also to the Bachchan family in general

· The apology is to be printed on the first page of the Entertainment section of the Mumbai Mirror on the same page, in the same size print, and including the signatures of the aforementioned journalist and editor

· An immediate donation of a sum of ( AMOUNT to be decided by members of my Extended Family of the Blog ) to a national charitable foundation of your choosing that supports those who suffer from tuberculosis and an article in your newspaper highlighting its work.

Dearest Extended Family,

Members of my immediate family have in the past few hours spoken to the concerned persons in the organization of the Times Group and they have through voice and mobile short message systems apologized for this insensitivity on their part. My own code of conduct and ethics prevents me from disclosing their names, but let me assure you that they were people who mattered in the Times organization. They have accepted their wrong and the pain it has caused us. They asked us to send a letter to them seeking clarification, assuring us that they would publish it verbatim. I post below a copy of the letter we sent signed by Aishwarya. I also post below what they brought out.

Discerning readers will observe how reduced the size of our clarification is. Note, it is our clarification, not theirs. And do note that the last few lines of the letter seeking apology have been conveniently deleted in the print.

Ladies and Gentleman of the extended family jury, I rest my case. I seek justice and I seek your verdict.

With deep anguish and pain … but with the enormity of my love for you ..

Amitabh Bachchan

ps : may i also state that they even made an ‘offer’ to do an interview with Aishwarya or any member of the family, where they said we could say whatever we wanted to and they would print it …

ha ha ha ha ha ha ….