Friday, December 1, 2006

Death Sentence to Whom, Mr. Advani?

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of India. Lal Krishan Advani was the Union Minister for Home Affairs. Two high profile cases of rape were reported from the Country’s Capital. A girl was raped on the roadside outside Maulana Azad Medical College. A European lady was raped in a moving car. And Mr. Advani, whose penchant for speaking couldn’t keep him quiet upon seeing the silent grave of Mr. Jinnah, pronounced death sentence for all rapists.
Coming from the Union Home Minister, the entire episode made this into a big story. Views of the city’s so-called high society, supposed to be the opinion-makers for the remaining society, were repeatedly aired. All seemed to be following Mr. Advani’s line. Prominent models and fashion designers this writer spoke to too pronounced no less punishment than death. And voices of the sane, who wanted to see the other side of the picture before coming to a conclusion, were meek and subdued in the din of all supporting the capital punishment. This correspondent was apprehensive even then. In a country where the rich and the powerful can bend laws in their favour at their whim, where the law-makers, the law-enforcers and the administrative machinery is arguably the most corrupt, how could such strict punishment be pronounced blindly, this correspondent argued, only to witness stern faces. How could you favour the rapists, they seemed to say!
The view has been vindicated once again. In a recent case brought to light courtesy the crime branch, the sordid case of cops who cooked up a rape to ‘fix’ a West Delhi businessman has come to light. His crime – he refused to budge from his statement regarding a molestation charge against the same inspector. The custodians of law decided to teach Sushil Gulati – the 49-year old businessman – a lesson. A 23-year old woman was hired to play the rape victim for Rs. 40,000. Foolproof plan was fabricated which meant injecting semen inside the ‘victim-to-be’ and scattering a bit of semen on her salwar and underwear. She was asked to consume liquor and tobacco to get dizzy. And then she was dropped near St. Stephen’s hospital to be ‘discovered’.
Waiting for the rape to be ‘discovered’, the police swooped on Gulati’s house, as planned and arrested him for ‘rape’ in a moving car. All proofs were against him and with police itself the one to have planned the proofs, who could have saved him. He was pushed around and thrashed in front of his family, including his grown-up daughter. Gulati’s reputation among family and friends was tarnished. His business got affected during the six-year long trial. And if only Rajni Gupta, the woman who played ‘rape’ had not broken down in front of the crime branch, to spill beans on the entire plot, Gulati would have been condemned to severe punishment, even death sentence if Mr. Advani had his way.
The fact that several top officers are alleged to be involved in this conspiracy, hatched and executed in 2000, among them the molestor-cop, Inspector CM Dutta, two SHOs, two sub-inspectors, a couple of lawyers, a woman who played the role of a ‘rape’ victim and four more accomplices, including two women, clearly shows the extent to which those in high position can go in a system reeling under corruption and mal-practices.
Can a blind death verdict be given in such circumstances? Mr. Advani and all the socialites who shouted ‘death death’ need to give the answer.

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