“No One Killed Jessica”, Times of India hit the homes on the morning of Feb 22, 2006. Once sidelined by mainstream media and people as open & shut case had now turned into ‘news’. This soon came true, as it exemplifies as one of the most remarkable case in our Nyay-system.
Jessica Lall, a model, was shot dead for denying Mannu a glass of drink. A young, charming girl’s life was proved to be not more than a glass of drink. Ridiculous! Yes, surely Ridiculous! But hold on your anger. Such ridiculous incidents happen each and everyday across length and breadth of Bharat. Wives are being beaten up by their husbands for a glass of liquor, girls are being sold by their own relatives for a glass of liquor, sometimes this glass of drink cases death also. So what’s special about Jessica? Jessica represents them. The entire case right from ‘open & shut’ to life imprisonment gave a sense of Nyay to these victims and to the common man.
Quoting Meera (Rani Mukharjee in NOKJ), “The power has came back to its real owner, i.e. the common (wo)man”. The ‘Justice for Jessica’ started as Orkutgiri soon spread via SMS, e-mails, NDTV, HT and hit the India Gate with candles. The India seemed to be united at this juncture. The entire govt and judicial machinery was not used to such kind of activism, led by no ‘one’ but by a feeling, a sense towards nyay. Puzzled, confused, pressurized system at last reacted.
Manu was held guilty by High Court. Supreme Court approved it 4 years later. After 11 years (very less compared to our track record), Jessica got justice. Jessica or Priyadarshini, in that sense, are lucky enough to get justice ultimately. What about Satyandra Dubey, Shanmugam Manjunath, Ruchika, Arushi, victims of great drivers like Salman, Sanjeev Nanda?
At last, what about Bhotmange family of Khairlanji? How many of us still remember the names? What about their brutal slaughtering by their own villagers in name of caste? The two women were paraded naked before being murdered. Though the court held the convicts guilty of their crime and punished them with maximum punishment of life imprisonment. But has the Nyay done? Has this verdict answered the caste hatred which inspired the killings? Has it stopped caste politics of this murder? What about the ‘puppet’ Bhayyalal bhotmange in the hands of this political groups including many ‘Republican” groups?
There involves larger and complex questions. ‘Justice for Jessica’ debate began with Orkut. But you start the thread of ‘Khairlanji’ there, suddenly orkut polarized. Everyone takes their own caste lines, some even doubting characters of two women of Bhotmange family. Just search your orkut profile. ‘Jessica’ communities has 1600 members apart from discussions in other communities, for Khairlanji there are only 23 members.
The middle class, civil society, media which claimed applause for ‘Jessica’, suddenly turned hypocrites. The ‘India Shining’, ‘Bharat Nirman’, ‘Global Power’, everything is booming this burgeoning middle class. But is this ‘The Great Indian / Bharatiya middle Class’ worth of it?
