Well, I saw a horror movie yesterday which was very scary, and I read something in today's paper which was equally scary. Sometimes I think that reality is stranger than fiction. Today I think that reality is definitely scarier than fiction.
Manu Sharma is the convicted killer of Jessica Lal, a case in India that got a lot of media attention after Manu Sharma killed Jessica Lal in cold blood because she refused to serve him an alcoholic beverage at their local club. In a rage he killed her in front of eye witnesses and fled the scene.
The police found it difficult to piece together a case as many of the witnesses turned hostile and the murder weapon was never recovered. Thanks to civil society though, the case was kept alive and a few months back Manu Sharma was given life imprisonment for the heinous crime.
So why am I writing about this?
Well apparently there are some laws in this country that allow a convicted felon like Manu Sharma to take bail -- to ostensibly take care of his ailing mother. Now, why a person facing life imprisonment should be allowed such a liberty, I just cannot fathom. And that it is a facility allowed to all prisoners is just scary. To think, I may be sitting in some cinema hall and the guy next to me could be out on bail for a life term.
That makes no sense whatsoever.
Oh yes, and I'm not far off with that cinema scenario. Manu Sharma was found loitering around at a night club in Delhi yesterday. Needless to say that today's press publicity will surely create a damper on his mood; and hopefully send him back to prison, where a person who is supposed to be serving a life imprisonment sentence, belongs.
Oh yes, and the role of our legislators. Really, they should rethink loopholes like this. It is unfair and dangerous; It makes a mockery of the efforts of the police who helped convict the criminal; It is a sham and devalues human life. One cannot even imagine what the family of the victim must be going through at this point of time.
You do the crime, you should do the time.
And what if there are laws like this? Our chief minister has gone on record to say that there was no special circumstance by which Manu Sharma got this privilege. It is extended to all prisoners.
In response, I can only say: RETHINK THE LAW.
Just because something IS, doesn't mean that it SHOULD BE.
I think that if politicians focused on actual issues rather than fighting over what language the oath was administered in while being sworn in, there would be more progress in this country.
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