Desicritics On The Jessica Lal Murder Case

Would reopening the case make any difference? The evidence trail is flawed, the witnesses confused. Public opinion is not sufficient to convict, except in a jury system.

Further, given the volume of unsolved cases, why not institute better evidentiary procedures to 'fix' the problem going forward?

The problem lies in the enforcement of the evidentiary procedures. There exists a process, but it is corrupt.

It would make a difference to reopen the case now because of the huge public opinion behind it. If this case gets resolved the way it should, then it will set a good precedent.

"Public opinion is not sufficient to convict, except in a jury system."

Even in jury system, public opinion is not supposed to interfere. Therefore, during jury selection they try to determine your biases and opiions apriori. In fact, sometimes they move cases to different towns to avoid spill over from public opinion.

However, this is all in principle.

In America, reopening cases from Jim Crow days have had heaing effect. They have to be done with care and diligence.

This post needs to be updated with recent posts on the murder and it's aftermath:)

In brief the update is as follows:

manu Sharma the main accused absconding.

the p.o. in charge washes hands off resposibility of changing cartridges. Accuses seniors of instructions. All the concerned officials under investigation.

In the Nitish Katara case, where the other accused Vishal yadav is involved, as an aftermath to the tampering of evidence, the judge has ordered all documents related to the case to be kept under her personal jurisdiction.

Bharati, the woman involved with Nitish and sister of the accused, has avoided appeariing in court for the 4 years, She is presently studying in U.K. The prosecution has demanded a non-bailable warrant against her.

For further official updates
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/611_0,001302160000.htm

Jessica Lal murder trial has left the common man of India lose his faith in the Indian Judiciary. The Jessica Lal murder case is a perfect example of the Indian legal system being a symbol of helplessness and abortion of faith. We all know that accused Manu Sharma is today a free man as per Indian Laws. The question is why? Because he knows law cannot arrest him, instead he chained law with his powerful hands for 7 long years and now the verdict was in his favour.

It is our tendency to blame others for all our problems and sufferings. We don't hesitate to point our finger to blame bureaucrats, politicians, police and politically influenced court verdicts. But question is where did we go wrong???

There were 80 odd people in the party but nobody forward to record their statement. Few who came forward later withdrew back and turned hostile. Probably because Jessica Lal was not their sister or child or relative or probably, because they were afraid of legal issues that may soon come.

If people have seen RDB (Rang De Basanti movie), which was released sometime back, there was one scene where in everyone knows who is behind all the wrong doings, yet the culprits go scot-free. The protagonist is broken and he says "ish desh ka kuch nahi ho saakta". My intention of saying this is to give a picture that "we are helpless" is something that is ingrained in our mindset and way of thinking.

It is becoming increasingly evident that the justice system in India has failed so miserably that people of the lower classes attribute no credibility to the system and the powerful corrupt politicians feel that they are immune to laws that pertain to ordinary men. If we are to achieve the total loss of disparity between the rich and the poor it is important that the law guarantees equality not just in words but in practice to all classes of society. I can go on as to the injustice that has been caused to that lady, but the fact remains that we have failed to protect the innocent and punish the guilty and every Indian out there is responsible for this blasphemy. We are denied our basic fundamental rights "Right to Justice" and "Right to Equality" or are these just principles, which we read in books just to pass our exams.

There is an unprecedented wave of public anger and disapproval bound to take its own course.


Action against erring official in Jessica Lal case: police chief - IANS
New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS) Taking note of the public outcry in the Jessica Lal murder case, Delhi's police chief Tuesday said an appeal would be filed in the Delhi High Court soon and all erring police officials would be brought before the court.
Please go to link for further interesting insights

http://in.news.yahoo.com/jessicacase.html

in response to Tanay:

are we to lose hope? we know now, there was a time when burning women on stakes was common in society. now, had they lost hope, would we have gotten here? At some point slavery was ok, untouchability was ok.

as surprisingly gaping holes appear in the heart of humanity we also find our way out. irrepsective of how cynical we maybe of progress, it has eventually happened, and purely by persistence and faith in human good. so, I do think there is hope in your cynicism.

Never lose hope, hope is everything

Today you can nominate Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers and call it democracy. Corruption is a better word then salary, adultery is hep, hurting/killing/raping is fun, cheating is business, criminals are innocent and all common citizens are thieves. Police is more dangerous then criminals, abuse only, there is no other use of power. Public services are for rights, corruption and abuse of power, without any kind of responsibility. The situation is so pathetic because we have had a law (practice) which gives justice on premise that "One innocent should not be punished, doesn't matter if 99 criminals go scoot free". Which practically means " One innocent should not be punished on the record, doesn't matter if 9900 innocents are punished off the record ". One criminal going free in society hurts a minimum of 100 innocent people.
In today's advanced times we require a justice system which believes and works on premise that "Not one criminal should not go unpunished, doesn't matter if 99 innocents are punished ". Yes it sounds very harsh, but in practice you will be saving 9801 innocent persons & their families from being punished on every conviction. Nation will be served and governed by Leaders. Justice & Truth will prevail. There will be no protection money other then Tax and India will be country worth living & you will be proud to be known as a Indian.

What would you recommend then?

Not one criminal should not go unpunished, doesn't matter if 99 innocents are punished

All secessionist activities that we see today are results of this school of thought. Every time an innocent is killed in crossfire between army and militants, the anger of the people only increases. Similar things happened in Punjab.(Watch Maachis). We need to ensure speedy & accurate justice, the two need to go together, as there is no room for one without the other.

Singer George Michael lends the piano on which John Lennon wrote Imagine to an anti-war exhibition...