Amid emerging judicial activism, the acquittal of the accused in the Jessica Lall murder case by the trial court has stunned people (Deaf, Mute, Blind, Mar 13). Your story makes it clear that investigators had employed overt and covert methods to ensure defeat of justice. The verdict has proved that the rich and the influential decide the law and justice of this country. All the same, the government can do two things to stem the rot: give weightage to the initial statement(s) given by the witness(es), and ensure speedier disposal of such cases.
P.K. Srivasatava, on e-mail
If Zahira Sheikh is punished for perjury, the same rules should apply to all those who turned hostile in the Jessica case. Also, penalise all those who destroyed or tampered with evidence. That’s including the judge, who virtually connived with the guilty.
Anwar Ahmad, New Delhi
Why do people keep flaying the judicial system alone? There have been no lacunae in the Jessica case proceedings. Any judgement is delivered on the basis of the eyewitness accounts, evidence submitted, the arguments of the opposing parties. The judge might well be knowing who the perpetrator is but then no order can be passed without legal proof. Only three things—timely judgement, witness protection and punishment for those turning hostile—can help halt the awkward trajectory of such cases. It can save a lot of our time, money and energy.
Anusha Singh Saharn, New Delhi
If Manu Sharma and the other accused have walked free in this case, one should blame it on a tricky aspect of our law: the complainant cannot always select the counsel, instead the government will give you one from its panel. Together with this, we have long-drawn hearings, torturous for the witnesses. No wonder we have a huge pile of endless cases lending little hope for justice to the aggrieved.
Amit Kishore, Patna
Such abuse of law can be curbed if there’s a system to check the interference of legislature in the course of law. Plus an independent police department.
S. Chakradhara Raju, Hyderabad
No talk of economic upsurge and technological progress holds validity so long as the judiciary in our country is incapable of enforcing its laws. Let’s not forget that the people’s trust in the executive and legislature is anyway waning.
Shankara Swamy, on e-mail
How come Manu’s father Venod Sharma continues as a Haryana minister when it’s clear that he wielded influence to subvert justice? If he’s not willing to resign, he should be shown the door.
Navdeep Hans, New Delhi
One thing the story failed to highlight—deliberately or otherwise—is the media’s own culpability in the making of such judgements. The track record of the press in similar instances of trampling of justice—like the murder of nhai engineer Satyendra Dubey and ioc’s Manju Nath—shows a lack of a sustained follow-up exercise. The initial flurry of stories decrying the injustice invariably fades away slowly, very sadly so. The perpetrators of the Jessica murder too should be waiting for the media to skip on to a new theme and let the present public outrage die its natural death.
Sam Philip, Kaviyoor, Kerala
The Jessica case verdict has taught me at least four lessons. One, if a rich brat kills your dear one, better take the compensation money—anyway the law will fail you. Two, if you’ve decided that the perpetrator be punished, shoot him down yourself—never resort to legal recourse. Three, commit that crime in public—it makes acquittal far easier. Four, if you are witness to such a crime, never admit it. No flip-flops later, your honesty is unchallenged.
Anand A.S.K., Bangalore
People shooting deer are convicted, while those killing somebody’s dear ones go scot-free. Obviously, it is jungle raj prevailing in our country—literally and figuratively.
Rajneesh Batra, New Delhi
A reinvestigation could be the only way to make good for a distorted judicial machinery. That will itself be a breakthrough capable of giving a boost to movements for the uplift and emancipation of Indian women.
K. Chandra Kumar, Bangalore
Let’s not forget that the erstwhile nda government had introduced a bill against hostile witnesses but that was scuttled by parties now ruling under the upa umbrella. And now, Sonia Gandhi has written ‘unilaterally’ to the home minister seeking to plug loopholes in the law.
Raj Bharadwaj, Bombay
Sonia’s letter deserves appreciation. It may be small consolation for Jessica’s family but is definitely a positive fallout of the case. One hopes she also gets Venod Sharma kicked out from the Haryana cabinet. All her personal antagonism with the Samajwadi Party will not wash as long as Sharma is chums with SP leader D.P. Yadav, whose son is the second accused.
R.K. Sharma, New Delhi
The box titled Who Came To Dinner mentions the name of "Rajiv Talwar, senior ias officer". I would like to mention for your records that I have personally never visited the Tamarind Court restaurant either before or after this incident. I would also like to emphasise that I was not present there on the date of this ghastly murder. The information carried in your magazine is wrong.
Rajeev Talwar, New Delhi
It was horrific to read the brief history of the Ramanis (Squeeze of Tamarind, Pinch of Salt). How dare they attend the candlelight vigil for Jessica at India Gate? It’s appalling that no one present there caught hold of them and gave a good thrashing.
Sangeeta R. Mishra, New Delhi
Going by the history of inheritance in the field of politics, it won’t take long for Manu to become an mla or MP (Manuvaad Rules). Or, even the chief minister of Haryana.
Anand Sriram, Bombay
It’s surprising—nevertheless relieving—that the middle class has decided to respond to a glaring miscarriage of law. (Middle Class Ko Gussa Kyun Aya?). The rot in the system has set in so deep that justice usually gets buried irretrievably way down. We generally don’t let such matters bother us too much as long as we are safe in our own cocoon. That way our response to this verdict is amazing.
Roopam Dubey, on e-mail
So, only the middle class got enraged with the Jessica verdict? I did hear many rich people talking with indignation about it. Please don’t bracket all the affluent. After all, most of the witnesses at the Tamarind Court are from middle class.
M.K. Samdani, Hyderabad
One doesn’t need to draw inspiration from Rang De Basanti to fight a stark reality plaguing India. I haven’t seen this film but I’ll act bravely when my honour is threatened. My humble upbringing will prompt me to do so.
Vishal Santoshi, Omaha, US
Poor Prem Shankar Jha (The Blunderbuss Trail). First, he had to defend the Communists, then the Europeans and now Bina Ramani. Even a football goalie has a far less daunting job.
Upendra Gadre, Timarni, Madhya Pradesh
While exposing the deeds of the beautiful people, you have conveniently left out the really powerful people who eminently directed what followed the sordid drama at the Tamarind Court (Delhi Diary). Intriguing that they enjoy political patronage.
Hari Parmeshwar, New Delhi
It’s time the media stopped featuring page-3 people like the Ramanis. You can’t have worse people to showcase.
Narayan Iyer, New Delhi
Post-acquittal too, Manu committed a crime: visiting Vaishno Devi—as if the Mata had a hand in the cover-up.
Lalit Mohan, Gurgaon
Finally someone who doesn’t just make churlish comments about US Prez George Bush’s dogs but sees the huge potential in closer Indo-US ties. Vinod Mehta’s piece, George Khush (Mar 13), was a sane read. I’ve always been shouted down by Left-leaning types or Anglophiles when I say this, but the US did not become the richest and most powerful country in the world by accident or luck. If more people like Mr Mehta leave their ideological baggage behind and realise that the two countries can have a great future ahead...if we don’t screw up again.
Prithijit Ray, Chicago, US
Bush’s body language when he patted Manmohan Singh on the back was there for all to see (Fusion Material). It was ‘big brotherly’ and patronising and would have made any self-respecting Indian wince.. With this thank-you-for-the-crumbs attitude, India will never get a good deal in any treaty.
Maj Gen S.G. Vombatkere (Retd), on e-mail
Nuclear facilities can’t be set up with the ease of attending "lunch, dinners" or getting "visa endorsements"! The Bhopal tragedy is still fresh in our minds. Our way of handling calamities has been far from satisfactory.
K.J. John, Baroda
Indo-US ties may have taken a paradigm shift with the rallying cry "Yankee, go home" and the silent afterthought "but take me with you". But diplomacy must take into account a lot more than that. Signing on the dotted line, be it the npt or anything else, must keep ‘national interest’ paramount in mind. We may improve TV ratings for Bush, but will it help secure our energy needs? You don’t want to leave that to someone who has a chimp on his guard detail.
Archisman Dinda, Calcutta
Bush protesters have a lot to answer for (Read Their Lips). Why have they never protested the tyrannical regime of Saddam Hussein or the Taliban? I am in no way justifying the war in Iraq. But there can’t be double standards when it comes to protesting crimes against humanity. As regards our own Red army, I’ll eat my words the day they hit the streets to protest a regime like North Korea, where they’re letting people die of hunger!
Derek Saldanha, Pune
These protesters should be ashamed. Our nation’s cultural ethos doesn’t teach us to treat a guest at the doorstep in such a manner. What happened to ‘atithi devo bhava’?
Tariq Iqbal, Aligarh
While one agrees with their reasons for protest, the likes of Karat need to do some introspection, realise they are no longer flag-waving rabble-rousers but duly voted members on the inside who can achieve a lot by quiet diplomacy. Whatever internal differences there are have to remain just those, not to be waved around for friend and foe to take advantage of. It’s about time they grew up into responsible citizens!
Sreelata Menon, New Delhi
If the Left is so opposed to the N-deal, then there should be something definitely good for us in it. The Marxists have such low credibility now that at best they are a nuisance factor providing comic relief at TV studios or at worst holding a not-very-silent brief for the Chinese Communist Party.
Arun A., Hyderabad
Ralph Nader once said that Washington has become "corporate occupied territory". This is equally true of New Delhi. The continuing exemptions on customs, excise and corporate taxes in the recent budget are even bigger than the fiscal deficit projected for 2006-07 (Net Net, Wishy-Washy, Mar 13)! Why is the upa government promoting crony capitalism? Why is the FM batting for auto mncs, giving them huge reduction in excise duty for small cars? Chidambaram, who abruptly discontinued the 10 per cent maturity bonus on post office monthly income scheme (which benefited senior citizens), ought to have substantially cut exemptions to find more money for the country’s poor infrastructure and to avoid the hike in service tax.
Kangayam R. Narasimhan, Chennai
Since even the nukkad paanwallah has had his say in the recent Prophet cartoons controversy, here’s my two pennies worth. Why blame the gods for the terror activity of a particular community? Why show Him as the one propounding terror? It’s now apparent that the West and the East can’t see eye to eye on religious tolerance. Terrorism is a global phenomenon; let us leave the gods out of it.
Deepanshu Bhandari, Mumbai
Apropos Balbir Punj’s The Two-Regiment Theory (Mar 13), I’d like to relate an incident of a few days ago. I was heading for Pune from Delhi and awaiting my turn to be frisked at the igi airport. Suddenly, four people of a "certain community" were escorted by a liaison person from the cisf without being frisked, to head for a similar flight, Delhi-Mumbai. Two were religious leaders, the other two their Delhi Police psos. The leaders in question have gone on record about their support for suicide bombers and the Rs 51 crore bounties for a Danish cartoonist’s life. And now these same people were being escorted into a sanitised security hall without even cursory checks! I’ve registered a formal complaint with the civil aviation ministry as well as to other entities. (For my efforts, my office got calls from people threatening me with tada). My thoughts on the Punj piece are: what’s the colour of the secular demands and what’s the colour of the uniformed services that bows to the demands?
Veeresh Malik, on e-mail
A typical example of invincible minority community solipsism: no one exists but themselves! (Suleiman, After Vanvas, Mar 13). And what is the Nawab whining about anyway? A quarter of UP reclaimed, never mind those whose lives will be torn apart.
Rajiv Sandhu, Southall, UK
It may be nice for India—and for Pakistan—to hand over the Jinnah House to the Wadias (Encore from Malabar Hill, Mar 13) provided they agree to convert it into a national monument. And maintain it.
Ajith Warrier, Sunnyvale, US
Apropos his review of the book Delhi Police: History and Heritage (First Information Report, Mar 13), while it’s suitably good-humoured, perhaps Raja Menon should have refrained from asking questions like ‘Quite honestly, why can’t we bring corporal punishment back?’. Is the good admiral so cut off from reality that he has not heard about the mindless police brutality in Meerut and Gurgaon, a tiny percentage of the cases of police high-handedness that get reported? If this is the situation in an ‘enlightened’ legal system, I can’t dare imagine what would happen if we are to revert to the medieval system of corporal punishment!
Raghuvir Mukherji, on e-mail
The problem with Swapan Dasgupta is that he has a particular idea of what a Stephanian is, which is probably why he defines a "true Stephanian" for us: one who has "the ability to stand apart from the bazaar but not be aloof" (Books, Mar 13). Shashi Tharoor defines a ‘true Stephanian’ as one who is also a Nehruvian secularist, which is why most Stephanian netas and MPs are Congressis. However, Dasgupta, who seems to consider himself a ‘true Stephanian’, has become only more vocal in his support of sectarian Hindutva politics. In other words, the idea of a single, hegemonic ‘Stephanian’ is unsustainable, and is only a sign of how these Stephanians take themselves too seriously. Just as there are many Indias, there must be many Stephanians.
S.N. Rudra, Cambridge
About Funny’s death Vinod Mehta refers to in Delhi Diary (Mar 13), my own Teddie died in the same last week, though of gastroenteritis, not of neglect, and despite all efforts of her veterinarian. Every evening I still wait for her to come up to me and ask me how I’m doing; every morning I look out for her small black form to come racing round the corner when I whistle.
Biswapriya Purkayastha, Shillong