Justice delayed and denied…how about this….?

A few weeks back I was watching a debate over the Ruchika case, whether Rathore’s punishment enough or not. And has the judicial system become a play toy for the rich and powerful. Then tons of such cases where the rich and powerful manage to evade punishments because they had money to fill up the pockets of the judicial system. Then the latest today was the verdict of the Bhopal Gas leak case. All this debate reminded me of someone.

Let me share with you a story which I was witness to from day one. I don’t know how many of you would remember this but in Kanpur sometime in 2000 a boy named Abhinav Misra who supposedly was in love with this girl called Arti, destroyed her face and life with a bottle of clinical acid. The acid that is used in car batteries was thrown on the girls face from a moving car just outside her house when she was returning with her father from her coaching classes.

The reason – she did not accept the true love Abhinav had for her and she deserved to be punished for the crime.

Now let’s look at the back grounds of these two people. Abhinav Misra is the younger son of a senior Sales Tax officer in Kanpur. One of the most corrupt government officials I’ve known, he is a multi millionaire thanks to the bribes he’s taken all his life. And unfortunately I do know them quite well, they happen to be our family friend’s relative. And this unfortunate coincidence makes it more of a reason to share this story with the world.

Arti on the other hand is the daughter of a professor in one of the local colleges. I somehow not personally but knew her too. My cousin was working with her father and had met Arti at a wedding party just a night before her life changed forever. Arti was a beautiful girl, slender body, milky white complexion and a pretty face; she slightly resembled Twinkle Khanna. The night before the tragedy she came for the wedding in a maroon dress, looking stunning. My sister couldn’t stop raving about how pretty she looked the next morning. In fact the picture that was printed in the news paper was also from the night before.

Abhinav had been stalking Arti for a long time now. Trying to convince/threaten her to accept his so called love for her and she kept denying. It was because of his stalking her father would pick & drop her to the coaching classes she used to attend. That morning as well, like any other day she was returning from her coaching classes when Abhinav and his friends followed them in a Maruti Van and threw a bottle of acid on her face, just outside their house. She ran inside screaming in pain, while her father also injured tried to figure out who it was and where this acid came from. For the first few moments no one realized the severity of what had happened. She was just screaming and tried to wash her face with cool water. And their world fell apart when she lifted her head from the wash basin and her mother and sister saw her face.

The left side of her face was almost not there, it was burnt so deep that you could almost see the bones. They immediately rushed her to the hospital. Immediate care was given to her, but it was too late. The doctors somehow managed to save her left eye from permanent damage, but till today she doesn’t have the lower eye lid, it was completely burnt and destroyed and because of this for months she had to sleep with her left eye open. I don’t know the status now. Each day in the hospital she would beg her family to let her look at the mirror and see what’s wrong with her face, but no one had the courage to let her do that.

The police complaint was immediately filed, and since her father worked with the Swaroop family, which happens to be one of the very strong political families in the city so, the police had given Arti and her family full support. And by the evening Abhinav was arrested and soon after his friend who helped him. That night his family was present at the wedding of the same family friend we knew them through. Suddenly in the middle of the ceremony people started whispering and the older men of the family left in a hurry. I knew about the incident that time, but didn’t know that just a few minutes back I was probably chit chatting with his family members.

There was huge uproar in the city, and just about everyone wanted to kill the bastard who destroyed the life of this innocent girl. The whole city was filled with anger and hatred, the local people, police, lawyers and even the prisoners in the Kanpur Jail wanted to kill him. People called them names and threw stones at his house. His family went absconding for a while.

And then the trial started. Mr. Misra the corrupt official that he was managed to get his son out on bail. The trail went on and on and on…for nine long years. We all know what happened at the end of the nine years.

I want to tell you what he did in those nine years, when Arti and her family tried to come to terms with reality and live with what had happened to them.

Abhinav, joined an MBA college in Pune roughly a year and a half after this. In his father’s words, “Arre, Puna bhej diya hai usse…humne socha ye hi to din hai…life enjoy karne dain…”

These were his words, just a year after his son had committed such a heinous crime. A few months later, on the honhar son’s birthday, Mr. Misra sends his son a car. Then some more months later, son finishes the course and starts working. And guess what, a few years back he was married to a homely, cultured, well educated and beautiful – very fair, Brahmin girl. Whose father not only gave his daughter to an animal like this but also lacs of rupees as dowry.

And the interesting thing is that the girl he married and her family knew what he had done to Arti. They were happily married for I guess four years or so before the final judgment and from what I’ve heard they had a son as well.

And what about Arti, would she ever marry, have children or even be able to walk out of her house without people staring at her with horror. The last 9 years she not only fought for justice, but also with herself trying to come to terms with life. She lives the trauma of that day, every single day in the eyes of the world and in the mirror.

Now you say…is this just justice delayed…or denied…coz the person actually sentenced for solitary life imprisonment is Arti….