Wednesday, November 01, 2006

The swagger of the powerful

For those of you guys who have been following the Mattoo case, the sentencing of Sanjay Singh has come as a welcome development for a nation deeply skeptical of the political and executive will to punish the powerful accused of heinous crimes. While a lot has been written on how justice has prevailed after 10 long years and so on, the human side of the story hasn’t been given its due share.

To me the rot starts at the very top. J. P. Singh, Sanjay’s father is as much to blame, if not more, for the assault and murder of Priyadarshini Mattoo. From the so called educated gentry and an IPS (Indian Police Service, for those who don’t know) officer to boot Mr. Singh should have instilled the right values in his progeny but then he himself was arrogant, abusive and reveled in his own power. One should have seen Sanjay’s younger brother’s expression while threatening jurnos, covering the story, to believe the deep- seated arrogance and power syndrome of the Singh’s. Senior Singh broke every rule in the book and twisted all the government machinery handles to protect his murderer son – the most sickening of all things.

Sanjay’s one act, planned and premeditated, have in turn impacted so many lives that it is not funny. Priyadarshini’s parents were devastated, the most horrible kind of an experience for a parent to undergo but then that’s not all. Sanjay got married and had a child. I keep thinking of his wife and how an innocent life has to go through such a harrowing time for no fault of her’s and what to say of the child! The kid has been scarred for life. The man and his family were arrogant enough to devastate another set of family.

The death sentence, to my mind, is the easy way out for Sanjay. If I had my way I would have given him a no-parole solitary life sentence with no access to any humans, books and mags, visitation rights …..nothing! Sit alone and contemplate all your life. Reflect father and son and all you critters of the most horrible kind.

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