World | India
Courts put the fear of law in high and mighty in '06
The year set to end will be remembered as one when the judiciary put the fear of the law in the high and mighty.
- IANS
- Published: 00:00 December 27, 2006
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New Delhi: The year set to end will be remembered as one when the judiciary put the fear of the law in the high and mighty.
A series of high profile convictions this year sent out a powerful message that justice was not beyond the reach of the common man.
Six convictions came in quick spate in the closing months of 2006. While all of these were horrific crimes, the sentencing of the killers of two young women - Priyadarshini Mattoo and Jessica Lal - evoked a huge sigh of relief across the country.
Coal minister Shibu Soren was jailed for life for the 1995 kidnapping and murder of his aide Shashi Nath Jha; Bharatiya Janata Party MP Navjot Singh Sidhu was handed a three-year sentence in a 20-year-old road rage killing; and Delhi female councillor Sharda Jain was jailed for the abduction and murder of a male colleague with whom she was romantically involved but who shifted his affections elsewhere.
And Rishi Prakash Tyagi, a retired Delhi Police officer of the rank of assistant commissioner, was ordered hanged for his role in the death in custody 20 years ago of a youth accused in a petty crime.
Outrage
While Mattoo lost her life to the carnal lust of a fellow Delhi University student Santosh Kumar Singh, a senior police officer's son, ramp model Lal was shot dead by Manu Sharma because she refused him a drink at a party.
With society at large and the media expressing outrage at the acquittals in the two cases, the Delhi High Court stepped into the picture and ensured justice was done. After a retrial, Singh was sentenced to death and Sharma to incarceration for life. The legal community views this spate of convictions as "steps in the right direction" aimed at "putting the fear of law in high and mighty".
"Obviously, these convictions are right judicial steps, which enforces the fear of law in high and mighty people as well," said former minister of state for law and justice Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Former additional solicitor general K.K. Sood echoed his views, saying: "It is the judiciary's message that rigours of law exist for the poor and rich alike. Such steps embolden the people's faith in the rule of law and justice."
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