Dictionary meaning of Outrage is still the same
Should the Jessica lal murder case be reopened for a trial?
This is a common question, which has become part of “Cast your Vote” section of every newspaper these days. No columnist wants to spare the opportunity to put their thoughts into words on this topic.
I still remember the days when I had no interest in reading any story other than related to terrorism, in a newspaper. I used to spend 5 minutes of my reading time in marking the news related to terrorism and read them in remaining 25 minutes. As like any other day, my father came from his clinic with newspaper in his hand and as usual told me the headlines of the day, while handing over the paper to me. “Kal ek Bar main Sharma ke bete ne bartendor ko goli maar di aur bhag gaya”. I felt a little sad after listening the news, not because someone was killed, but there would not be any terrorism story for me to read, as that was the only news Papa had announced on that day. I went through my daily practice of searching the terrorism news, enjoying them, and throwing the paper on the table.
Day before yesterday, I found the Jessica Lal Murder case as the headline in my two favorite news sites, The Hindustan Times and IBN live. I was excited to know who she was. Was she a film actress, a politician, or a daughter of a celebrity?
She was also a normal human being like most of us, struggling to achieve something for her. The only difference is when we all can still fight to fulfill our wishes, she can not do this. All her ambitions were destroyed with a bang, sound of a bullet, which everyone but she enjoyed in that party.
Can anyone in India, whoever knows about this case is ready to believe even for 1 second that Manu had not fired the bullet? When everyone knows who is responsible for shattering dreams of a beautiful girl, then why the criminals (I know, I know court has acquitted him, but he will ever be a criminal for me) are roaming freely. Is the judge who delivered the judgment in this case responsible for acquitting the criminals? No, we all are responsible; witnesses who turned hostile in this case are responsible; all who saw her being murdered are responsible. For a single moment of life, we are ready to believe that this won’t happen again; rather this won’t happen with us. No other murder will occur, or no other criminal will be acquitted like this. We do not want to risk our lives by witnessing in such case, when we know that every moment our life is at risk.
It is known to everyone of us that there are loop holes in our system. A rich or a politician can easily play with such a system. They can get away with whatever they do. Then why do not we try to change this system and fill those loop holes. A judge while giving the verdict on a case knows that he is himself becoming a part of that crime. But he can’t do anything. He is to follow whatever is shown to him. He cannot listen to his consciousness while giving the verdict, because our system does not allow him to do so. Instead of blindly following the system, why does not he try to improve the system? A case that is tried for a 7 years will become 700 miles far from the truth. After 7 years, this gap will become so broad to be filled by anyone. If this case had been tried in any European country, it would have been finished within 7 weeks. In 7 years, no new evidence and witness is going to appear then it means we are just providing sufficient time for suspects to destroy as much evidence as they can.
Every one of us should have the courage to stand in place of Jessica’s family members and think from their perspective. Manu in police custody had confessed that he had committed this brutal murder. Then why no value was given to his confession. Was this a formality or a way to escape from police torture?
The policemen who filled their pockets are always anxious for such cases to appear so that they can be happy with their overflowing pockets. Such cases come as a performance bonus for them, which accounts multiple times to their salary. The case trial duration gives them enough time to bargain for their easy work.
If someone lost something in this case, are the family members or Jessica herself. She lost her dreams, her family members lost the time that they had spent to bring her up. Rest whole world benefited from this case. Judge got free from a boring case, policemen saved enough to buy a new luxury item, news channels got a hot topic to discuss, we all got something interesting after boring India-Pakistan issues to read and watch, Manu got freedom, his father a new eve to throw a drink party, and witnesses finally had a relief from embarrassing court summons.
The witnesses who turned hostile in this case will again get busy with their normal routine. They won’t also waste their time in thinking that they have done something opposite to what was expected from them. No one will bother to tell them that they have done something wrong. We will still want them to appear on page 3, Pepsi advertisement, or in a movie. Should we as responsible members of this society do something against them? Should we go and apprise them they are also equally murderers in our eyes? When we all have time to protest against appearance of Mohd. Prophet’s photographs, celebration of Valentine’s Day, or a line written about Bal Thackeray. Can’t we protest against these irresponsible members of our society to ensure that every witness gives his/her second thought before turning hostile? Instead of letting our anger to die until such a case appears again, we should not allow such members to walk among us. We should not let our anger come and go like sea waves, rather we should use its power to make some changes in our system, so that we are not killed like this again.
This is a common question, which has become part of “Cast your Vote” section of every newspaper these days. No columnist wants to spare the opportunity to put their thoughts into words on this topic.
I still remember the days when I had no interest in reading any story other than related to terrorism, in a newspaper. I used to spend 5 minutes of my reading time in marking the news related to terrorism and read them in remaining 25 minutes. As like any other day, my father came from his clinic with newspaper in his hand and as usual told me the headlines of the day, while handing over the paper to me. “Kal ek Bar main Sharma ke bete ne bartendor ko goli maar di aur bhag gaya”. I felt a little sad after listening the news, not because someone was killed, but there would not be any terrorism story for me to read, as that was the only news Papa had announced on that day. I went through my daily practice of searching the terrorism news, enjoying them, and throwing the paper on the table.
Day before yesterday, I found the Jessica Lal Murder case as the headline in my two favorite news sites, The Hindustan Times and IBN live. I was excited to know who she was. Was she a film actress, a politician, or a daughter of a celebrity?
She was also a normal human being like most of us, struggling to achieve something for her. The only difference is when we all can still fight to fulfill our wishes, she can not do this. All her ambitions were destroyed with a bang, sound of a bullet, which everyone but she enjoyed in that party.
Can anyone in India, whoever knows about this case is ready to believe even for 1 second that Manu had not fired the bullet? When everyone knows who is responsible for shattering dreams of a beautiful girl, then why the criminals (I know, I know court has acquitted him, but he will ever be a criminal for me) are roaming freely. Is the judge who delivered the judgment in this case responsible for acquitting the criminals? No, we all are responsible; witnesses who turned hostile in this case are responsible; all who saw her being murdered are responsible. For a single moment of life, we are ready to believe that this won’t happen again; rather this won’t happen with us. No other murder will occur, or no other criminal will be acquitted like this. We do not want to risk our lives by witnessing in such case, when we know that every moment our life is at risk.
It is known to everyone of us that there are loop holes in our system. A rich or a politician can easily play with such a system. They can get away with whatever they do. Then why do not we try to change this system and fill those loop holes. A judge while giving the verdict on a case knows that he is himself becoming a part of that crime. But he can’t do anything. He is to follow whatever is shown to him. He cannot listen to his consciousness while giving the verdict, because our system does not allow him to do so. Instead of blindly following the system, why does not he try to improve the system? A case that is tried for a 7 years will become 700 miles far from the truth. After 7 years, this gap will become so broad to be filled by anyone. If this case had been tried in any European country, it would have been finished within 7 weeks. In 7 years, no new evidence and witness is going to appear then it means we are just providing sufficient time for suspects to destroy as much evidence as they can.
Every one of us should have the courage to stand in place of Jessica’s family members and think from their perspective. Manu in police custody had confessed that he had committed this brutal murder. Then why no value was given to his confession. Was this a formality or a way to escape from police torture?
The policemen who filled their pockets are always anxious for such cases to appear so that they can be happy with their overflowing pockets. Such cases come as a performance bonus for them, which accounts multiple times to their salary. The case trial duration gives them enough time to bargain for their easy work.
If someone lost something in this case, are the family members or Jessica herself. She lost her dreams, her family members lost the time that they had spent to bring her up. Rest whole world benefited from this case. Judge got free from a boring case, policemen saved enough to buy a new luxury item, news channels got a hot topic to discuss, we all got something interesting after boring India-Pakistan issues to read and watch, Manu got freedom, his father a new eve to throw a drink party, and witnesses finally had a relief from embarrassing court summons.
The witnesses who turned hostile in this case will again get busy with their normal routine. They won’t also waste their time in thinking that they have done something opposite to what was expected from them. No one will bother to tell them that they have done something wrong. We will still want them to appear on page 3, Pepsi advertisement, or in a movie. Should we as responsible members of this society do something against them? Should we go and apprise them they are also equally murderers in our eyes? When we all have time to protest against appearance of Mohd. Prophet’s photographs, celebration of Valentine’s Day, or a line written about Bal Thackeray. Can’t we protest against these irresponsible members of our society to ensure that every witness gives his/her second thought before turning hostile? Instead of letting our anger to die until such a case appears again, we should not allow such members to walk among us. We should not let our anger come and go like sea waves, rather we should use its power to make some changes in our system, so that we are not killed like this again.
posted by Himanshu at 11:31 PM
1 comments
