Regret the Error

The San Francisco Chronicle has run a correction stating that a freelance journalist plagiarized (though they don’t use that word) from an article that originally appeared in The Guardian back in November. It also notes that the article first appeared in the International Herald Tribune — but we can’t find any notice from that paper regarding the copying. Here is the correction/firing:

In an article that appeared in last Sunday’s Insight section, “When women kill for justice” by freelancer Siddharth Srivastava, a substantial amount of material was taken verbatim, and without attribution, from an article written by Randeep Ramesh that appeared in The Guardian of London on Nov. 9, 2004. Srivastava’s article was first published in the International Herald Tribune on Dec. 1, 2004. His work will no longer appear in The Chronicle.

The Chronicle appears to have removed the story from its site, but the lovely folks at Google have cached it (and this site has it posted as well.) Also, the IHT still has it up here. And here is the original article from The Guardian.

Let’s compare. It doesn’t look good…

Chronicle:

…In November, a mob dominated by 50 women and led by a rape victim burned down the houses of three alleged rapists who had reportedly attacked residents with impunity for months.

Guardian:

…At the weekend a mob, dominated by 50 women and led by a rape victim, burnt down the houses of three alleged rapists who had reportedly attacked residents with impunity for months.

Chronicle:

The razing of the alleged rapists’ homes follows a series of high-profile cases that began in August when Akku Yadav, a gang leader
who faced 24 criminal charges including murder, was stabbed and stoned to death in a court by a mob led by women.
According to the women, he had raped young girls and pregnant women and sent his henchmen to extort money. Despite repeated arrests, Yadav always walked out of jail and continued to terrorize the neighborhood.
Local citizens feared he would be released on bail again.
Police detained five women after the August attack but released them when more than 400 women blocked the courtroom and demanded they be set free.
…More than 100 prominent lawyers based in Nagpur have issued a statement saying the women should not be treated as the accused, but as the victims.

Guardian:

The razing of the alleged rapists’ homes followed a series of high-profile cases which began in August when Akku Yadav, a gang leader who faced 24 criminal charges including murder, was stabbed and stoned to death in a court by a mob led by women. According to the women, he had raped young girls and pregnant women and sent his henchmen to extort money.
Despite repeated arrests, Yadav always walked out of jail and continued to terrorise the neighbourhood. Local people feared he would be released on bail again.
Police detained five women after the August attack but released them because of a public outcry.
Prominent among their supporters were 100 lawyers based in Nagpur who issued a statement saying the women should not be treated as the accused, but as the victims.

Chronicle:

A report by a former top police officer in Nagpur blamed his former colleagues for a serious failure in law enforcement.

Guardian:

A report by a former top police officer in the city blamed his former colleagues for a serious failure in law enforcement.

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