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| Justice after all | | | Thanks to the outcry by the enlightened public and high pitched media
campaign that justice has been delivered after 10 years in the case of
Priyadarshini Mattoo, who was raped and murdered by a Delhi boy, who
was desperately trying to woo her and whose advances were resented by
Miss Mattoo. The accused, Santosh Kumar Singh, the son of an IPS
Officer, who was alleged to have raped Priyadarshini in her house in
Vasant Kunj and then murdered her, to destroy any evidence, was
acquitted in 1999 by the Trail Court, with the judge observing that
while he knows that the accused had raped and killed Miss Mattoo, yet
he is acquitting him, giving him the benefit of doubt, since the
investigation team of Delhi police could not provide dependable
evidence to prove the guilt of the accused. It was perversion of
justice and blot on our system of administrating justice, where the
guilt or innocence of a person is proved on the basis of the witnesses
and evidence. The destroying of evidence and browbeating or
threatening the witnesses very often leads to the acquittal of a
culprit, having committed even the most heinous crime. In the present
case, the father of the accused being an IPS officer, made the police
to not investigate the case properly to substantiate the guilt of the
rapist and murderer, thus helping him to go scot-free. However as a
result of outcry and the enlightened public opinion calling for
justice and the media launching a concerted campaign again the
miscarriage of justice, the CBI to whom the case was handed over for
investigation filed the appeal in Delhi High Court, against the
acquittal of Santosh Kumar Singh and ultimately succeeded in nailing
the truth, collecting solid evidence and the High Court Setting aside
the earlier judgment of the Trial Court and declaring Santosh Kumar
Singh as guilty of raping and then murdering Priyadarshini Mattoo. The
convict has since been arrested by the police and awaiting the award
of sentence on him. The father of the victim girl, a retired officer
in the Science and Technology Department of J&K, Chaman Lal Mattoo,
who had got admitted his daughter for studying law in Delhi, had moved
heaven and earth to get justice for his daughter and getting the
rapist and murderer to be convicted and punished, has today got the
consolation at least that justice has been delivered after all and his
strenuous efforts have succeeded. The retrial of the murder case of
Jasica Lal, a model and a dancer who was also allegedly murdered by
influential and resourceful boys in full view of a large number of
people gathered at a party, has led to bolstering the demand for
reinvestigation of the case of Priyadarshini by the CBI, which has
paid dividends. There are innumerable cases where the culprits go
scot-free due to either the complicity of the police, who weakens the
case or the resourcefulness and muscle and money power of the persons
committing the crime including rape and murder. All these victims are
not so resourceful or do not receive the attention of the media or the
human rights activists for their cases to be reinvestigated and fresh
trial held. These helpless victims continue to be denied justice.
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