02-25-2006, 07:01 AM
<b>Filthy underbelly of Delhi's high society, low culture </b>
Kanchan Gupta
Picture this. It's a winter night in Delhi. The date: January 10, 1999. An inebriated chap with powerful parents and a well-connected arms dealer for grandfather, is out on the streets, taking a spin in his BMW with his buddies, both of them sons of wealthy businessmen and also drunk to their gills.
The chap at the wheel, high on the heady cocktail of adrenalin and alcohol, hits the accelerator for extra speed. He loses control over the car - any drunk would - and runs it over pavement dwellers huddled in rags against the biting cold. Three of them are killed on the spot; two suffer serious injuries.
Our chap couldn't give a toss. He shifts gear, races the engine, rams the car into a nearby police picket and kills three policemen. A bit bothered about the mess on the car - blood, flesh - he drives to his friend's home. There, the friend's dad tells his servants to hose down the BMW.
Unfortunately, for all the washing it gets, the car is traced because it has leaked oil. Our chap and his two friends are taken to the police station. They are still flying high on booze and the thrill of recklessly driving.
The rich and wealthy parents of these louts, who represent the happening crowd that keeps Delhi's Page 3 high society and low culture alive and going, hire a battery of lawyers - the best money can buy - one of whom is a leading light of the Congress. Predictably, the case collapses as witnesses turn 'hostile'.
Such is the power of lucre that Manoj Malik, who barely survived the speeding drunk's fun-and-games, says in court that it was a truck and not a car that ran over him and his mates. Another witness disappears. Our chap's friends are soon out on bail while he is allowed to fly out of the country.
Six men are run over and killed. But their alleged killer, Sanjeev Nanda, grandson of <b>Chief of Naval Staff-turned-arms dealer Admiral SL Nanda</b>, is neither held guilty nor punished. Sanjeev Nanda and his pals, Manik Kapoor and Siddharth Gupta, are back to where they belong - Delhi's happening crowd.
On another winter day, this time on January 23, 1996, Priyadarshini Mattoo, a third year student of law, is brutally raped and murdered in her apartment in Delhi's Vasant Kunj housing colony. The alleged rapist and murderer, Santosh Kumar Singh, son of an IPS officer, JP Singh, taunts the police to try and prove him guilty.
After a desultory prosecution, Santosh Kumar Singh walks free. This despite the judge saying, "Though I know he is the man who committed the crime I acquit him, giving him benefit of doubt." <b>Santosh Kumar Singh's father JP Singh goes on to become Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police.</b>
The outrageous verdict in the Jessica Lal murder case - this vivacious girl was shot dead in front of hundreds of people on April 29, 1999, none of whom has had the courage to identify the killer - has understandably upset those who still believe in the rule of law. But this is not the first time that the rich and the powerful, the beautiful people whom media features regularly partying late into the night in designer finery, have got away with murder by manipulating our justice system.
And, let there be no doubt. We shall never ever put the <b>Manu Sharmas </b>of Delhi on a shame-and-shun list. Because deep within, we aspire to be a part of the crowd to which Bina Ramani and Malini Ramani belong. That's Delhi's filthy underbelly for you.
Delhi ke thug
<b>'SriRam Chandra kaha gaye Siya se aisa kaliyuga ayega
Kauua chugega moti aur hansa jhuthan khayega'</b>
Kanchan Gupta
Picture this. It's a winter night in Delhi. The date: January 10, 1999. An inebriated chap with powerful parents and a well-connected arms dealer for grandfather, is out on the streets, taking a spin in his BMW with his buddies, both of them sons of wealthy businessmen and also drunk to their gills.
The chap at the wheel, high on the heady cocktail of adrenalin and alcohol, hits the accelerator for extra speed. He loses control over the car - any drunk would - and runs it over pavement dwellers huddled in rags against the biting cold. Three of them are killed on the spot; two suffer serious injuries.
Our chap couldn't give a toss. He shifts gear, races the engine, rams the car into a nearby police picket and kills three policemen. A bit bothered about the mess on the car - blood, flesh - he drives to his friend's home. There, the friend's dad tells his servants to hose down the BMW.
Unfortunately, for all the washing it gets, the car is traced because it has leaked oil. Our chap and his two friends are taken to the police station. They are still flying high on booze and the thrill of recklessly driving.
The rich and wealthy parents of these louts, who represent the happening crowd that keeps Delhi's Page 3 high society and low culture alive and going, hire a battery of lawyers - the best money can buy - one of whom is a leading light of the Congress. Predictably, the case collapses as witnesses turn 'hostile'.
Such is the power of lucre that Manoj Malik, who barely survived the speeding drunk's fun-and-games, says in court that it was a truck and not a car that ran over him and his mates. Another witness disappears. Our chap's friends are soon out on bail while he is allowed to fly out of the country.
Six men are run over and killed. But their alleged killer, Sanjeev Nanda, grandson of <b>Chief of Naval Staff-turned-arms dealer Admiral SL Nanda</b>, is neither held guilty nor punished. Sanjeev Nanda and his pals, Manik Kapoor and Siddharth Gupta, are back to where they belong - Delhi's happening crowd.
On another winter day, this time on January 23, 1996, Priyadarshini Mattoo, a third year student of law, is brutally raped and murdered in her apartment in Delhi's Vasant Kunj housing colony. The alleged rapist and murderer, Santosh Kumar Singh, son of an IPS officer, JP Singh, taunts the police to try and prove him guilty.
After a desultory prosecution, Santosh Kumar Singh walks free. This despite the judge saying, "Though I know he is the man who committed the crime I acquit him, giving him benefit of doubt." <b>Santosh Kumar Singh's father JP Singh goes on to become Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police.</b>
The outrageous verdict in the Jessica Lal murder case - this vivacious girl was shot dead in front of hundreds of people on April 29, 1999, none of whom has had the courage to identify the killer - has understandably upset those who still believe in the rule of law. But this is not the first time that the rich and the powerful, the beautiful people whom media features regularly partying late into the night in designer finery, have got away with murder by manipulating our justice system.
And, let there be no doubt. We shall never ever put the <b>Manu Sharmas </b>of Delhi on a shame-and-shun list. Because deep within, we aspire to be a part of the crowd to which Bina Ramani and Malini Ramani belong. That's Delhi's filthy underbelly for you.
Delhi ke thug
<b>'SriRam Chandra kaha gaye Siya se aisa kaliyuga ayega
Kauua chugega moti aur hansa jhuthan khayega'</b>