Should we look at the Indian media and the Epstein files, recently released – heavily redacted – by the US Department of Justice, which includes the power elite of the world, including people in power in India? It’s a controversial subject and across the world, reactions from those in power has varied.Mainly it has been to excuse themselves from any wrongdoing even as they cavorted or carried on or corresponded with a man who was already known as a convicted paedophile – a convicted sex offender. Jeffrey Epstein died under somewhat mysterious circumstances in jail in 2019. He had been convicted first in 2008, for sexually abusing girls as young as 14. He served a jail sentence of 13 months.However, before and after, he continued with his relationships with the richest, most powerful and most influential men in the world, as well as with a few women. All of them knew who he was but it did not stop them. Epstein not only abused young women and children himself but he also captured young women and children to be sexually abused by these powerful men, on his private island and his various homes. How he made so much money or garnered so much influence is unclear but he was also an international power fixer and broker with alleged links to Israel. Much of this has been known for years.Names in the files released so far include the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and industrialist Anil Ambani. While, obviously to those who know how he works, Modi has not responded himself, but Hardeep Puri, Union minister of petroleum and natural gas, has been deputed to do the job. Puri himself met Epstein several times, or so it seems.Just for context, let us look at some of the names in the files and how some of the world has responded to being part of the files.https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqxynz2l0g2ohttps://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/12/epstein-files-goldman-sachs-kathy-ruemmler.htmlhttps://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yqr8eggvwoAnd of course, former Prince Andrew of the UK is one of the best known and most publicised “users” of Epstein’s services. And Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of the late media baron, Robert Maxwell, currently serves a jail sentence for her role in Epstein’s activities, as a procurer of children and an abuser.So the honourable Hardeep Puri appeared on TV and in which he made some incredible statements. One was that he realised what Epstein was. Which in fact goes counter to what he also said: that Epstein’s only crime was that he was involved with a woman who was “underage” and that “many of us” did not believe the charges.These comments are not available in these two reports on the press conference:https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/my-boss-at-ipi-knew-epstein-i-met-him-3-4-times-as-part-of-delegation-hardeep-puri-on-rahul-gandhis-charge-2866624-2026-02-11https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/realised-what-the-guy-was-hardeep-puri-says-met-jeffrey-epstein-as-part-of-ipi-delegation-101770856865781.htmlHowever, they are available in the recordings. Just as a matter of accuracy, there is no such thing as an “underage woman”. There are women and there are children. Girls of nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 are children. These are the ages that Epstein and his friends abused and used.Even more telling at where the Indian media is can be found on channels like NDTV. You have Puri defending himself to news anchor Padmaja Joshi and somehow blaming Rahul Gandhi for even bringing up the subject. And then you have the most unedifying spectacle of the same NDTV anchor Padmaja Joshi arguing with people on her panel that while Epstein was a paedophile, his primary job was of a power broker.Tellingly, she has BJP spokeswoman Shazia Ilmi nodding along in agreement. However, as is clear, Epstein’s two roles were inextricably linked. He was an abuser and paedophile himself and he also provided children and women to be abused by the powerful men he worked with.Nothing demonstrates how low the Indian media has fallen that this sort of parcelling of the scandal that is currently rocking the world. At no level, can the bulk of the media ask questions or hold those in power to account. Because, even if you take the media as the basest level of human existence, a story like the Epstein one must excite all journalists. It is salacious at all levels, involves crime and power and involves the world. A media that does nothing more than defend this is not even good enough for gutter level journalism.And it is a sad lesson in patriarchy that these channels use women to push their propaganda agenda, to the extent of excusing child sex abuse.The shame gets greater; the levels fall lower.Ranjona Banerji is an independent journalist who writes on media and politics. She posts on X @ranjona.This piece was first published in mxmindia.com.