Sheer injustice of it all
Manu Sharma and his antics showed us all how much of an ass the law is and how clever are the men in power to exploit its lacunae. But other than this fact, which we all are aware of, was the shocking behaviour that Sharma indulged in. Goes without saying that the man is a habitual offender who may be causing too many emotional and existential problems for his high-power family.
His night-time do showed us how unrepentant Sharma is about the grave crime he has been convicted of — killing Jessica Lall in cold blood, for which he is serving a life sentence.
Subsequent reports in a section of the media suggested he is a model prisoner who adheres to all jail rules, behaves politely in all situations and is constructive in his jail endeavours. Going by the way he kicked up a row in a night club, that too on parole, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Perhaps, it is again his well-connected family that managed to get in this kind of a face-saving report in some newspaper.
On a larger canvas, this is not just about Manu Sharma, the brat who is now universally known to be an incorrigible convict, totally in denial of regret of his crime and drunk on his family’s rich assets and powerful connections. It is also about how the entire system of parole is actually a tool in the hands of either an intentional or an apathetic Government. As the much published data tells you, hundreds of parole applications are filed every year but only some get out for varying periods. Needless to say, most such convicts must be influential and well connected or why would authorities clam up on this year’s parole list?
Sharma had been out on wrong grounds for close to two months. He would have gone back unnoticed had he not become wanton enough. Not a long time back, a more seasoned R K Sharma, convicted in the Shivani murder case, was spotted holidaying at an exotic resort in Haryana. He was, however, prudent enough to keep out of the media glare and avoid the news of him being out getting into hyper headlines. One is yet to find out on what grounds Sharma got parole. But it was not obviously what he must have stated in his application. Would he have, for example, said that he needed parole to holiday with his wife at a swank resort? That he needed spa massages to relax his teetering nerves? Or that he would at all be where he was seen, enjoying the luxuries that his conviction specifically denies him?
But then Sharma went out and perhaps back quietly. Manu Sharma decided to live it up the only way he knows to. Add to this the unsavoury controversy over the needless letter he wrote to his fit as fiddle mother. Obviously, the family’s advisors need to be changed as fast as Manu Sharma himself needs to see life with reason and precaution.
Both in Manu and in R K Sharma there are heinous crimes involved, both are murder convicts and both are from influential backgrounds. The Indian parole system is as vulnerable to such people and their clout as a dove is to a vulture. In a nation where the conviction rate is lower than the water levels in the Thar desert, such occurrences of parole misuse only bring home one fact — the system is far too gone to be repaired, much like the stumbling climate that is touted to be taking down the planet itself. Any redemption from such a scenario will come only when the realisation of a reconstruct comes from the top. And for it to come from the top, clout, connections and nepotism need to go much before honesty and good intention comes in.
Till then, you can keep up the RTI fight to get information on how many wrong paroles have been accorded till now — and chance is that you will be more than shocked.
His night-time do showed us how unrepentant Sharma is about the grave crime he has been convicted of — killing Jessica Lall in cold blood, for which he is serving a life sentence.
Subsequent reports in a section of the media suggested he is a model prisoner who adheres to all jail rules, behaves politely in all situations and is constructive in his jail endeavours. Going by the way he kicked up a row in a night club, that too on parole, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Perhaps, it is again his well-connected family that managed to get in this kind of a face-saving report in some newspaper.
On a larger canvas, this is not just about Manu Sharma, the brat who is now universally known to be an incorrigible convict, totally in denial of regret of his crime and drunk on his family’s rich assets and powerful connections. It is also about how the entire system of parole is actually a tool in the hands of either an intentional or an apathetic Government. As the much published data tells you, hundreds of parole applications are filed every year but only some get out for varying periods. Needless to say, most such convicts must be influential and well connected or why would authorities clam up on this year’s parole list?
Sharma had been out on wrong grounds for close to two months. He would have gone back unnoticed had he not become wanton enough. Not a long time back, a more seasoned R K Sharma, convicted in the Shivani murder case, was spotted holidaying at an exotic resort in Haryana. He was, however, prudent enough to keep out of the media glare and avoid the news of him being out getting into hyper headlines. One is yet to find out on what grounds Sharma got parole. But it was not obviously what he must have stated in his application. Would he have, for example, said that he needed parole to holiday with his wife at a swank resort? That he needed spa massages to relax his teetering nerves? Or that he would at all be where he was seen, enjoying the luxuries that his conviction specifically denies him?
But then Sharma went out and perhaps back quietly. Manu Sharma decided to live it up the only way he knows to. Add to this the unsavoury controversy over the needless letter he wrote to his fit as fiddle mother. Obviously, the family’s advisors need to be changed as fast as Manu Sharma himself needs to see life with reason and precaution.
Both in Manu and in R K Sharma there are heinous crimes involved, both are murder convicts and both are from influential backgrounds. The Indian parole system is as vulnerable to such people and their clout as a dove is to a vulture. In a nation where the conviction rate is lower than the water levels in the Thar desert, such occurrences of parole misuse only bring home one fact — the system is far too gone to be repaired, much like the stumbling climate that is touted to be taking down the planet itself. Any redemption from such a scenario will come only when the realisation of a reconstruct comes from the top. And for it to come from the top, clout, connections and nepotism need to go much before honesty and good intention comes in.
Till then, you can keep up the RTI fight to get information on how many wrong paroles have been accorded till now — and chance is that you will be more than shocked.
Published November 15, 2009 in Sunday Pioneer
http://www.dailypioneer.com/215725/Sheer-injustice-of-it-all.html
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