Hi All,

I propose to coin a new ‘jargon’ for the legal profession of India. The rationale follows.

Could you enlist your support please?

Model Jessica Lall was killed on 29^th April,1999. Not in broad daylight, but in the glare of limelight, in the packed house of Tamarind Court – a posh drinking hole around Qutub Minar -- with scores of glitterati of Delhi swarming about. She was serving as celebrity bartender along with other models including Malini Ramani and Shayan Munshi.

Past midnight, as the ambience was cool the hole dried up quick and the bar was wound up. One Manu Sharma, already inebriated fairly well, demanded another drink at about 2 am. Jessica refused. He was ready to pay a thousand buck. She was firm, “I won’t give you a sip even if you give me a thousand bucks”

It was enough for Manu to swallow the humiliation. What the hell a simple ramp model thinks of her? Doesn’t she know that he is the son of a minister of Haryana? His father a former M.P? Belongs to the Grand Old Party of India? His uncle is the son-in-law of the former President of India, Sh. Shankar Dayal Sharma? He is the owner of many sugar mills and Piccadilly chain of hotels? His buddies are all higher ups? With all these credentials is it not his birth right to have whatever he wants? And this wretched manikin has the guts to refuse him a simple drink?

The feudal hubris could no more contain in his head. The gasket blew off. He fired one shot in the air and the other on Jessica’s temple. She died in the hospital.

Charges framed against Manu Sharma along with his accomplices – supporting statements of Shayan Munshi and other eyewitnesses in tow.

With all the tentacles of power – bribing, coercion and threat, whichever, wherever and whenever applicable – they succeeded in winning over all the witnesses. All of them turned hostile disowning earlier statements of seeing Manu Sharma firing the shots.

And the court ruled: the prosecution fabricated a false charge against Manu Sharma, who was honourably acquitted. How helplessly the solemn but dumb truth gets strangulated in the crooked hands of the rich and powerful in this ancient land of “Satyameva Jayate:?

Manu Sharma tried to bribe even Gods. Immediately after acquittal he rushed to Vaishnu Devi in recognition of her blessings. He thought the acquittal was possible by the grace of Goddess Vaishnodevi.

This is the sordid state of affairs of legal system in India. Subsequent reversal of the ruling by the Supreme Court is beside the point. The plain truth is that this sort of things happened in the past and will happen in the future. The case of Jessica Lall is an exception. Firstly, it happened in the capital, Delhi. And probably, since she was a high profile model, there were tumultuous public outcry, series of candle light vigils, and high voltage media blitz. So, it was the victory of peoples’ voice, not attributed to ideal legal process of the land.

What happened to the pavement dwellers of Mumbai, brutally mowed down by the whim of a celebrity? Not a single voice was raised.

I solicit your support in immortalizing Jassica Lall and highlighting the flawed legal practice of India. I appeal to the legal body of the country to incorporate a new jargon in their legal lexicon. If any case is lost due to such extraneous factors that it should be tagged with the noting that it suffers from “Nobody Killed Jessica-Syndrome”

Long live Jessica Lall!