Mattoo case: Justice delayed, not denied

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Mattoo case: Justice delayed, not denied

Priyadarshini Mattoo's case is a ray of hope for the entire nation. The collective fight of the people against injustice has not gone waste. Santosh Singh, the accused, is now behind the bars and the court has announced a guilty verdict against him.

CJ: Vandana K Mittal

Wed, Oct 18, 2006 00:00:00 IST

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FOR TEN LONG years a father waged a determined and dogged campaign to get justice for his murdered daughter, Priyadarshini Mattoo. Over the years, you just read some bits of news here and there about the case, but there was not much media coverage. Stories more gruesome than Priya’s attracted our attention and in time we as a nation learnt to live with one more case of injustice. For the father and other family members and friends it was, however, not so simple. Their pain was constant and permanent. There was no way to get their beloved Priya back, but they were determined get justice.

In the meantime, the accused — the son of a senior police officer — roamed around scot-free. He finished his law studies, started practising law (the irony of it), got married, had a child and carried on without any feeling of guilt. The police and lower courts, following the tradition of corruption, influence and greed, manipulated things in a manner that led to Santosh Singh, the accused, being acquitted.

The judge, although faced with overwhelming evidence, still gave him the benefit of doubt and set him free.

Unfortunately for Santosh Singh and fortunately for Priya’s kith and kin, this judgement came at a time when a nation weary of hearing cases of miscarriage of justice every other day was restless to set things right. To their assistance came the media that had come into their own in the preceding years. Private channels — some of them with a conscience and an agenda of social responsibility — had multiplied and they stepped in to highlight these miscarriages of justice and bring them back centre-stage.

What happened thereafter is well recorded. One after another the young and the old stood up in support of not only Mr Mattoo, but also Nitish Katara and Jessica Lal’s sister and father. Bollywood lent its creative might by way of a movie like Rang De Basanti that shook the youth as nothing had in quite a while. From candle light vigils to petitions of support, the nation raised its voice. A 12^th class student took some time off from his studies and exams to run a petition of support online for Jessica. Of course, the cynics — and there are many — scoffed at this sudden show of emotion. Coarsened by 60 years of corruption and trivialization of the justice system, they insisted that this was just a short-termed outpouring of grief, made fashionable by the Rang De Basanti candle vigil scene. They were sure that neither our youth nor we as a nation had the staying power to fight the rot in our judicial and police systems.

Well today they have been proved wrong. The High Court has announced a guilty verdict against Santosh Singh. Mr Mattoo and his young supporters, who were with him all these years, have had a victory of sorts. While their loss remains the same, they have the satisfaction of seeing the criminal behind bars.

Now, we all can approach the next two cases that of Nitish and Jessica with renewed hope. There are also many pending cases in this nation where the accused have used power, money and influence to bribe their way out of courts. To those who think that this is just a flash in the pan, I would only say that it will take some time to set our judicial system right, but it can be done. We will lose everything only when we as a nation lose hope and our conscience. Our youth is not apathetic, our media is socially responsible and we still have it in us to feel a father’s pain. I strongly believe that we can make a difference and we have the capability to change things.

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Santosh verdict: Media reverses the free run

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Posted comments (3)

	Our hero Santosh singh has used all the loopholes in our justice system and he and his father have paid them all of to keep their mouth shut or give the wrong evidence. The Policer officers and the CBI guys, along with the members of the Judiciary who made a mockery of this case are equally responsbile for bringing our judical system into disrepute and scandal. They should be treated and given the same punishment as Santosh singh and the case costs and fines must be collected equally from all of them. This police officers and judges are thieves and criminals just waiting to loot and fill their pockets. Launch a full scale investigation and send all this corrupt police guys, cbi guys, judges and the corrupt politicians to the gallows or to siberia to rot...
	\| 27 October 2006 Reply to Comment \| New Comment \| Report Abuse

	Tks Vandana-ji for highlighting this worthy event on the blogworld. Much remains to be done. 1. Foremost is why the "regular police' - not the CBI - deliberately, indeed wantonly, covered up for the murderer and, even MORE DESPICABLE, at the behest of their own guilty fellow officer - guilty for having prevented the course of justice. What shall be the punishment for such people - the guilty father+ all those in the Delhi Police who abetted his guilt? 2. Should we not demand of the NCT govt & the Commissioner of Police what they mean by "With u, for u, always..."? Who exactly is the "u", pray? Their own colleagues? 3. What about the thousands of other murders - of people as well as of justice - where the guilty have , so far, got away free? With their "PERFECT CRIME"? How shall we keep the candles burning for those dead victims/their loved ones still alive & suffering, till those criminals too are brought to book? - people like Manu Sharma, his 'influential' father, even Sonia's Congress which kept silent till it couldn't continue its shielding of one of its own sitting as minister in one of ITS govts? When & how shall we take THEM to task? 4. I do pay tribute to the judiciary in this case but what about their own cover-ups of their own ilk? - such as the three judges of the Karnataka HC who had raped or had illegal affairs with some women in a hotel & where, even now after two yrs, the Chief Justice concerned has not thought it just or fair to make the Enquiry Report public let alone pinsih the guilty "judges"? Are they still "sitting on the Bench" to decide on OTHER criminals? How does the CJ trust them to do so? Is the judiciary themselves above the Law? Will someone file a PIL or carry out a "sting operation" to expose the guilty in that case as well? 5. Should the Mattoo/Jessica candlelight vigil members + more of us all form an Indian KKK to mete out (or extract) justice - not like the American one, but by Gandhian methods? Let us all keep these issues alive so that Vandana's para viz., "Of course, the cynics ? and there are many ? scoffed at this sudden show of emotion. Coarsened by 60 years of corruption and trivialization of the justice system, they insisted that this was just a short-termed outpouring of grief, made fashionable by the Rang De Basanti candle vigil scene. They were sure that neither our youth nor we as a nation had the staying power to fight the rot in our judicial and police systems."is AGAIN & PERMANENTLY falsified? - not only in the Matto case.Tks to Merinews again for having given us all VUPs some little voice now!!ramani
	\| 20 October 2006 Reply to Comment \| New Comment \| Report Abuse

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