Sorry Jessica, may your soul rest in peace
Sorry about India, Jessica. Sorry about the Indian law which can be kicked in the gutter by the forces - to which the Indian population is enslaved to. Sorry about you having to bartend for someone at an upscale party. And sorry that no one informed you that in India it is NOT OK to refuse serving alcohol after closing hours to any politician, or the politician’s family - near or far. Sorry that you had a gun pointed at your face when you refused to serve alcohol to a person who “DEMANDED” it. Sorry that no one rushed to inform you that the person you refused the alcohol to was someone who hid under the politician dad’s ghagra. Sorry no one saved you when the politicians’ sons pulled the trigger. Sorry that no one stopped the filthy pigs from walking off after shooting you.
Sorry that all witnesses changed their statements in court. Sorry that all your killers have been acquitted by the Indian courts. Sorry Jessica, that you had to live and suffer such a horrible death in a country where law is but a joke, where it performs a “mujra” on every politician’s desk. Sorry that the entire police force was hell bent on saving the murderers rather than performing their true duty - of bringing them to task. Sorry Jessica, that you were born an Indian.
I, an Indian citizen, can merely hang my head in shame at this GROSS INJUSTICE and from the depth of my soul…I say Sorry Jessica…for justice, as usual, was not served.
After a seven-year-long trial, all nine accused in the Jessica Lal murder case have been acquitted by a Delhi court.
Additional Sessions Judge SL Bhayana acquitted prime accused Manu Sharma, son of former union minister Vinod Sharma.
Other high profile accused that have been let off are Vikas Yadav, son of former Rajya Sabha member DP Yadav, and Yograj Singh, father of cricketer Yuvraj Singh.
Shyam Sunder Sharma, son-in-law of former president SD Sharma, Amardeep Singh, Vikas Gill, Harvinder, Raja Chopra and Alok Khanna have also been given a clean chit.
The entire story at The Pioneer by Sidharth Mishra
[Update: this report has since been pulled down at The Pioneer and I can't seem to find it; Below is a copy of the report]
Jessica Lal murdered, none found guilty
Early morning May 30, 1999 a young model was shot dead at an illegal bar in Delhi’s high-profile South district. The girl in question Jessica Lal, who was doubling up as a bartender the well-heeled patrons, had refused another drink to the main accused Manu Sharma alias Siddharth Vashisht.
Jessica Lal (file photo)
Several years later all the accused have been acquitted in the absence of evidence and witnesses having turned hostile. A Delhi Court on Tuesday set all nine accused including Manu Sharma, son of former Union Minister Venod Sharma, free in the case of the sensational murder.
The case was expected to fall from day one, given the tardy investigations by the Delhi Police under the direct supervision of then Joint Commissioner of Police (Southern Range) Amod Kanth and then Deputy Commissioner Police (South District) Sudhir Yadav. Jessica belonged to a middle-class family. The only point which stood out in the family’s near anonymous profile was that Jessica’s mother had given tuitions to Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi.
On the other hand, those accused belonged to a network interweaved with political, business and bureaucratic links. Manu Sharma was son of a former Union Minister. His friends and co-accused were all sons of high-profile people. After the murder Sharma had taken refuge in the house of Amardeep Tony Gill, then a general manager with Coca Cola. Tony was famous for his drunken brawls back home in Chandigarh. Each time that Tony found himself in a bind, his father, a senior Punjab and Sind Bank official, came to his rescue. His other friend was Vikas Yadav, Uttar Pradesh don DP Yadav’s son. Vikas is still behind the bars in the infamous Katara murder case.
The investigations in the case were jeopardised from day one when the police allowed Bina Ramani, the owner of Qutub Colonnade restaurant and illegal bar, to be made a witness in the case. Legal experts had said that Ramani should have been booked for destruction of evidence instead for wiping the bloodstains from the murder spot. Kanth had replied, “A star witness cannot be made an accused.” It’s another matter that over the years all the witnesses including Malani, Bina’s daughter, friend Shyan Munshi too turned hostile.
Another loose end in the investigations was the non-recovery of the weapon of offence. The police based its case on the confession extracted from Manu that he had shot from his licensed .22-bore pistol. Manu’s arrest in Chandigarh on May 6, 1999 by a team led by high-profile Delhi Police inspector Raman Lamba was stage-managed by Vinod Dada, a leading industrialist of Jalandhar and Manu’s uncle.
Wielding tremendous influence with the local bureaucracy and Bar, Dada took upon himself to arrange the “arrest”. The night before the arrest, the posh Chandigarh Club was agog with talk that “everything has been arranged.”
Accused’s father was asked to distract the media limelight. Venod had got himself admitted to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Research on the pretext of acute hypertension. In the meanwhile, city’s best legal brains had got working. A case was prepared around the weapon of crime which was never recovered.
A report was planted in a Chandigarh daily that the family armoury did not have a .22 bore pistol. Having insured that “enough safety valves” have been fitted, it was now thought prudent to “arrange the arrest.”
A bridge established with the Delhi Police team waiting in the city on the pretext of “conducting raids.” Manu was moved from the interiors to the suburbs. He changed houses at least thrice during the night before his arrest.
The rendezvous finally happened at 11.30 am on May 6, 1999, when Manu Sharma accompanied by Vinod Dada and a battery of lawyers walked to the guest house located in Sector 21, where the Delhi Police team was waiting. The man who had kicked much dust in the past few days was arrested without a whimper. Several years later the case too was to be thrown out of the court for lack of evidence; or enough evidence to show tardy investigations?
February 22nd, 2006 at 10:47 am
Sorry Jessica !!!! thats way we can say as Indian citizens and its a shameful day for all the Indians .. you are right OZ they are hiding in politicians ghagra’s but one day (I HOPE)justice will be served and these mother fuckers will be brought to justice
may your soul rest in peace Jessica
February 22nd, 2006 at 1:59 pm
Oz,
It is indeed sad that justice was not served. But take a look good at the picture. It is New Delhi, the capital city of India where power mongers, spin doctors and petty politicians rule like roosters without any respect for law and order. Who are these politicians and their offsprings who land up in Delhi with illegal money (millions) stashed in their pockets? they are from all over urban/rural India, ignorant, semi-literate, arrogant and have no consideration for anyone who is not a “yes sahib” to them.
Condolences to the victims family, a young life taken away by another young person who was intoxicated with power,lust and arrogance and liquor.The lady was at the wrong place(Delhi) at the wrong time(2 am) in the wrong attire(Shorts and top)… she has no business serving drinks in an illegal bar. OK… here comes country bumpkin who thinks he can buy anything with his money including her. she refuses with her snobbish uppity attitude…. he is slighted, angry, irrational… does he have any sense about the consequences of his action? NO. He draws, he shoots, he walks away, he hides till it is convenient for him to show up to get arrested and the drama begins.
What does the Bar owner do… she knows she is about to sink…starts hiding bottles,.. tampers with the evidence… there goes the case. She should be held liable in a civil court for irresponsible behavior.
Oz,this scenario (getting away with murder or high handedness) is not unique to India,it happens everywhere..India, USA, Europe.. there is no exception.. if you have money and pull political strings you can pretty much do whatever you want. Through the history there are so many high profile cases in US and Europe which are obvious but the guilty roam free.
C’est la vie.
February 22nd, 2006 at 6:19 pm
BK, Hope is what we can pray for.
Cliff, So true and well said. It’s sad that 9 murderers are let off right in front of one billion people. And no one can do nothing about it. The recurrance of such shocking mockery of Law and Justice with precise regularity in full public view makes me believe that one billion people are mere pawns for fun and entertainment of a chosen few who rule India from the corridors of power or from behind closed doors.
February 23rd, 2006 at 3:42 am
This is the most disgrceful instansce of “Show me the man and I shall show you the law”. Its really shameful and I second your apologies to Jessica and her family
February 24th, 2006 at 8:34 am
oz
For all the guys who read your blog and are in India mebbe they would like to sms JESSICA to 6388 and NDTV would petition the supreme court for a retrial
February 24th, 2006 at 2:40 pm
Sorry Jessica. Our lives are nothing but portals of insignificance, greedily waiting for that *Tomorrow*, the perennial next day of the rest of our life, until we reach the end of the end of the road. There are no atheists on these benches. May your soul rest in peace.
February 24th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
Jessica, the cowardly and impotent crowd you mingled with on this earth that couldn’t do you justice when you were alive… is expected to be by your side with you when you aren’t here? Let GOD take over!
February 25th, 2006 at 7:55 am
- Hiren, Thanks for tuning in. Yes, it must be a very difficult time for Jessica’s family what with the culprits walking away with a smile on their faces. Also your name crops up in Akismet’s spammer list. Your comment was stuck for a day until I found your message and unspammed it.
- Pradeep, Thanks for that Info!!! Called up friends and family in India and asked them to SMS the same. Request all readers who read Pradeep’s message, and if you still haven’t SMSed JESSICA to 6388, please do so or please ask your family/friends in India to do so.
- WB, From a spiritual macro point of view even this (the Injustice) is in perfect balance, but it’s the karma to drive ahead and fight it. The depth in your comment was touching. very touching.
- Rajiv, Your anger is quite justified. But it’s time to let it go and as Pradeep said get in touch with friends and family to support NDTV. Also if you can arrange a silent peace march to protest against the ruling, it would support the cause.
February 25th, 2006 at 10:11 am
Oz let’s be realistic..”wot culd you do about this other than badmouthing politicians?”
why do we look up to politicians? haven’t we heard of civil war?
huh..
I don’t know when we can have real or true leaders in our country and clean politics..
just disgusting.
March 2nd, 2006 at 4:17 pm
Cliff, this is not the time for the “she-asked-for-it” comments (For that matter, it is never the time for that!!)!! Show some respect! But specially now…what has what she was wearing or her so called “snobbish uppity attitude” got to do with anything? A liitle perspective here! I am sure you mean well, but you do so with extreme naivete!
March 4th, 2006 at 9:49 am
the most disgusting part of your system is that people like manu sharma and vikas yadav can kill or do anything they want with anyone and still be free…
i mean everywhere the media has given the really stories on how both natish.k and jessica lal were killed but still no one can do anything about it cause these bastards have money and power to amend all the laws…. i just hope that this money and power play is not the future of our country!!!!!!!
March 7th, 2006 at 2:46 am
as a law student i have repetedly heard that we have a “RULE OF LAWâ€(i.e. law is same for evrybody) in india……………but i think it only prevails in our law books not the system……….because in india if your father is a politician you can escape any thing ..even a murder……….law and judiciary have become mere playthings of powerful politicians……just give it a thought..that if a high profile case in the capital of the country can collapse like this…..what would be the state of justice in far flung areas……..but we as youth of today will not bear this anymore…..today we organised a peace march for jessica…..and we will not stop till jessica gets justice……..if u want to join hands with me mail me at (anugrah_25@sify.com)………we want justice for jessica…….we want justice for all of us….
November 9th, 2006 at 10:14 am
[...] The complete details of the story are here [...]
November 10th, 2006 at 9:48 pm
Soory Jessica that we’re a nation of of corrupt and unscruplous people who hold family bondings so dear that it blinds us from the wrongdoings of our family members. Sorry for having bad blood and being unashamed for it.
December 7th, 2006 at 12:50 am
Jethmalani is complete moron and the attorney designed to fulfil his ego and people like him are total disgrace to country like india.
Its sad, for indians to watch movies like “rang de basanthi” and get inspired to solve the cases that doesnt hold good in judicial system but stands strong on moral court.