E-Paper
You spoke up for Jessica, do it for Mehar too
THE FAMILY has its roots in Lucknow. Her husband is a politician, she herself a high-profile advocate, a socialite. She was spotted at every important function or celebration in the state capital till a bullet hit her in the neck. Today as she battles for her life in the All-India Medical Institute of Sciences, Delhi, police grapples with a three-week old case, clueless, helpless. What a poor commentary on the efficiency of UP police. Neither can they check eve-teasing, nor the eve-teasers. Can they solve bigger cases of killings and kidnappings? Perhaps not till they become a part of STF, which recently set a record by gunning down a notorious terrorist Salar in Lucknow within few hours of the Varanasi bomb blasts.
THE FAMILY has its roots in Lucknow. Her husband is a politician, she herself a high-profile advocate, a socialite. She was spotted at every important function or celebration in the state capital till a bullet hit her in the neck. Today as she battles for her life in the All-India Medical Institute of Sciences, Delhi, police grapples with a three-week old case, clueless, helpless. What a poor commentary on the efficiency of UP police. Neither can they check eve-teasing, nor the eve-teasers. Can they solve bigger cases of killings and kidnappings? Perhaps not till they become a part of STF, which recently set a record by gunning down a notorious terrorist Salar in Lucknow within few hours of the Varanasi bomb blasts.
Strangely though there is no outcry from the political world or even the public. Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is too bogged down with his own political battles, has not as yet demanded a report from the police. Had the CM evinced little interest in the case, the culprits would have been behind bars. There is reason to believe it. Let’s look at the chain of connections. Sachin Pahari knew KD Singh, block pramukh from Sultanpur. KD Singh has links with Dhananjay Singh, SP MLA from Jaunpur, who in turn is close to the ‘almighty’, Raghuraj Pratap Singh.
In this background the only question that the police needs to answer is, “have they interrogated the owner of the flat in Dilipur Towers, KD Singh?” The main accused in the case, Sachin Pahari had gone to the flat before he shot Mehar for objecting to some dirty comments?
It won’t be wrong to presume that Pahari knew Singh on whom he had called on or in whose flat he had spent some time. It won’t be a futile exercise, police would at least get some information about Sachin Pahari, his whereabouts.
Leads are there; only the police needs to follow them instead of announcing a reward of barely Rs 2500. It’s a cover up which would get them nowhere.
Though there is no room for speculation in crime cases, which are often or should be based on bare facts, but the talk of the town is that Sachin Pahari is hiding somewhere in the neighboring district. If media knows, police must have known too. And where is the harm in conducting some searches? Or is it that political hand that had initially delayed action and is now delaying arrest for obvious reasons -- giving time to the main accused to surrender in court.
In fact in several cases the main accused often get enough time from police, either intentionally or because of their incompetence, to surrender in court.
It saves them from some filmi style interrogation.
The other interesting step taken by the police is initiation of proceedings for the attachment of Sachin’s property. Which property, what would they attach when they know nothing about Sachin Pahari beyond the fact that he belongs to Pithoragarh. Didn’t we hear the police claims on maintaining dossiers of all criminals at their police stations as well as control rooms now that they are computer savvy? What happened to that? This was not Sachin’s first crime. He has been involved in dozen-odd heinous cases that too in Lucknow. He has been to jail also. But police knows nothing about him. Perhaps the political patronage that he enjoys keeps him safe from police, their records and their punishment.
He flourishes, becomes intolerant to the extent of shooting at some one, that too a woman, from a close range only because she objected to their outrageous behavior. One would not be surprised if he one day stepped into the shoes of his protector and became member of a Vidhan Sabha, either here in UP or in Uttaranchal.
Someone asked the other day, why there is so much of outcry in media over Mehar and Jessica Lal’s cases? Is it because there is glamour? Why other cases are not hyped similarly. The person while asking this question forgot that if Mehar and Jessica can’t get justice in this country despite their connections, how can the man on the street get that? If people in power can go scot-free in such high profile cases, then who would nail criminals when commoners are attacked, or are victims of their brutalities?
In fact it is the other way round. If the culprits in both the Jessica and Mehar cases were booked, sentenced for life, it would work as a deterrent for many more like them in power to think before laying their hand on an innocent.
So there is a need for a public outcry. Just as Jessica’s case has been reopened on public pressure, Mehar should also get justice. This would be possible only when the public will come on the streets demanding justice for her and many like her?
