Media, Morality, and the Machinery of Justice: Re-Reading Vikas Swarup’s Six Suspects
Mr. Santosh S. Thakrele
Research Scholar
ABSTRACT
This paper re-examines the evolving position of journalists as alternative investigators in Vikas Swarup’s Six Suspects. By focusing on the contrasting portrayals of Arun Advani and Bharka Das, it explores how journalism becomes a decisive force mediating crime, public sentiment, and moral responsibility in contemporary India. Swarup’s narrative highlights the dual nature of the media—as a vigilant watchdog exposing corruption and as a sensational platform vulnerable to market pressures. Through its polyphonic storytelling and investigative strands, the novel critiques systemic injustice, elite privilege, and middle-class apathy. This study positions the journalists in the narrative as moral agents whose actions illuminate the ethical dilemmas embedded in media practice, ultimately suggesting that journalism in Six Suspects becomes a significant metaphor for democratic accountability. The novel raises pressing questions about the boundaries between truth and spectacle, justice and vigilantism, and the responsibility of the press within crime fiction.
Keywords: Crime fiction; Investigative journalism; Media ethics; Vikas Swarup; Indian English literature; Social justice
DOI link – https://doi.org/10.69758/GIMRJ/2512S01V13P008
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