जेसिका हत्यांकाडः मनू शर्माला जन्मठेप कायम
नवी दिल्ली
दिल्लीतील मॉडेल जेसिका लाल हत्याकांडातील मुख्य आरोपी मनु शर्मा संदर्भात उच्च न्यायालयाचा निर्णय सर्वोच्च न्यायालयाने कायम ठेवला असून मनूला जन्मठेप सुनावण्यात आली आहे. न्यायालयाच्या या निर्णयामुळे सुमारे 11 वर्षानंतर जेसिका हिला न्याय मिळाला आहे.
बहुचर्चित जेसिका लाल हत्याकांड प्रकरणी दिल्ली उच्च न्यायालयाने 2006 मध्ये मुख्य आरोपी मनु शर्मा याला जन्मठेपेची शिक्षा सुनावली होती. तर उर्वरित दोघांना विकास यादव आणि सोनी गिल यांना चार-चार वर्षांची शिक्षा सुनावण्यात आली होती.
हरियाणाचे माजी मंत्री विनोद शर्मा यांचा मुलगा असलेला मनू याने उच्च न्यायालयाच्या निर्णयाला आव्हान देताना सर्वोच्च न्यायालयात अपील केली होती. याबाबत सुनावणी करताना न्यायालयाने मनू शर्माला दोषी ठरविले असून
त्याला जन्मठेप तर त्याचा साथीदार विकास यादव आणि अमरजीत सिंग गिल यांना 4-4 वर्षांची शिक्षा सुनावण्यात आली होती.
शर्मा यास यापूर्वी सत्र न्यायालयाने निर्दोष मुक्त केले होते. मात्र त्यानंतर जनतेचा दबाव वाढल्यानंतर दिल्ली उच्च न्यायालयाने या खटल्याची सुनावणी आपल्याकडे घेत या प्रकरणी आरोपींना जमठेप सुनावली होती.
1999 मध्ये घडलेल्या या घटनेत रात्रीच्या वेळी मद्य देण्यास नकार दिल्याबद्दल जेसिका लालची गोळ्या घालून
हत्या करण्यात आली होती.
New Delhi
The Supreme Court has upheld the life sentence given to Manu Sharma for the murder of model Jessica Lall.
On April 29, 1999, Jessica was bartending at a Delhi restaurant owned by designer Bina Ramani, who was hosting a private party that night. Sharma asked Jessica for a drink. When she refused, he shot her.
Jessica was rushed to a hospital by Ramani, where she was declared dead.
Two days later, Sharma's abandoned Tata Safari car was found in Noida, near Delhi. Sharma himself surrendered a few days after that. He has, since then, denied that he killed Jessica.
But the Supreme Court, in its judgment, has said, "The prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt the presence of Manu Sharma at the site of the offence."
"My family is happy. It has given us a lot of satisfaction," said Sabrina Lall, Jessica's sister, who has been leading the campaign for justice for her sister's death.
A trial court in Delhi first acquitted Sharma in February 2006. The Delhi High Court then reversed that decision in December 2006. Sharma appealed to the Supreme Court against the High Court's verdict that found him guilty.
"I am happy that my judgment has found favour with the Supreme Court", said retired judge RS Sodhi who had delivered the High Court verdict. "It was the media that brought it to our attention that this case had been lingering on for such a long time," said Sodhi.
The Jessica Lall case struck a chord with middle-class India which saw it as a classic example of an average family taking on rich and powerful opponents. The trial also exposed the weaknesses of the legal system. The case stretched for years without any major development, and one after another, key witnesses turned hostile.
They included Shyan Munshi, who was a model and a friend of Jessica's. He first said he had seen the murder happen and that Manu Sharma had fired the gun twice; but in 2001, he failed to identify Sharma in court, dealing a huge blow to the prosecution. He also said his earlier statement against Sharma should be disregarded because it was written in Hindi, a language he was not familiar with. By this time, Munshi had acted in a Bollywood movie where he delivered entire dialogues in Hindi.
