Can146;t nab them

The Delhi court on Tuesday acquitted all those accused in the Jessica Lall murder case. The key accused, Manu Sharma, is the s...

The Delhi court on Tuesday acquitted all those accused in the Jessica Lall murder case. The key accused, Manu Sharma, is the son of an ex-minister. Former navy chief Admiral S.N. Nanda8217;s grandson Sanjiv Nanda was charged with mowing down six people, including three cops. He was allegedly drunk. Santosh Kumar Singh, son of IPS officer J.P. Singh, was charged with raping and murdering a 22-year-old law student.
The judge, while acquitting Singh, even said he knew this is the man who committed the crime but was being given the benefit of the doubt. The judge also observed that Delhi Police had assisted the accused. And then, there was the Puru Rajkumar case in Mumbai where the actor8217;s son ran over and killed several slum dwellers and got away with a light fine.
Are these mere coincidences? Or is it that the rich in our country are getting away with any crime they choose to commit?

8212; Saher Anjum, Nagpur

8226; What8217;s wrong with our society, with our judicial system, that we can8217;t punish the cold-blooded murderer of Jessica Lall?
The best course is for the state to appeal to the higher court against the lower court8217;s judgement, to initiate a probe against hostile witnesses, and into the police failure as early as possible.

8212; Bidyut K. Chatterjee, Faridabad

Abnormal times

8226; The panic about the bird flu virus is a potential menace for India. Not only is the internal consumption of poultry products dipping drastically, the international market for such Indian products is badly hit. Though vaccination of the birds in some cases, and their slaughter in some other instances are being undertaken on a war footing, it will take more than a while to restore normalcy, even if there are no confirmed cases of human death due to bird flu.

8212; Arjun Chaudhuri, Kolkata

A secular distrust

8226; Be it the Samajwadi Party8217;s support for Iran, the UPA government8217;s attempted Muslim headcount in the army or the magnitude of secularists8217; outrage over the UP minister8217;s remarks, every case presupposes Indian Muslims as a community that exists unnaturally in India. Beneath the secularist veneer, Muslims are secretly perceived to be conditionally patriotic, dangerously intolerant and indifferent to the principle of secularism by the same people who would otherwise cry hoarse over establishing Muslims as equally patriotic, secular and capable as any other community.
There has to be a conviction that the large majority of moderate Muslims won8217;t mind secular Hindus intervening strongly against Muslim communalism.
Otherwise, polarisation is inevitable.

8212; Gaurav Dua, Delhi

Clarity on J038;K

8226; Reportedly, the Hurriyat does not oppose India talking to other separatists. But, 8216;8216;New Delhi should not involve people who do not challenge India8217;s jurisdiction over the State8217;8217;, says Mirwaiz Umer Farooq. Once and for all, this should be spelt out, and in particular to Musharraf: following the accession of the state by the then ruler, nothing is negotiable except how the Kashmiris 8212; and that includes the Ladakhis, Jammuites and Pandits 8212; should co-exist with the rest of the country.

8212; Mukund B Kunte, New Delhi