In modern-day Indraprastha, from where all power and pelf flow, the progeny of the rich and influential exist in a universe quite removed from that of ordinary mortals. It's a universe where farmhouse parties, expensive liquor and swanky cars comprise the stuff of human existence; where a damaged BMW can sometimes evoke more sympathy than the crumbled bodies of five men that the car rammed into; and where highly-qualified and expensive attorneys routinely turn the law into an ass.It was this very Delhi scenario that unfolded late on Saturday night. Two young men in a speeding BMW, back from a late night of partying, tear into a police picket killing three policemen and two civilians. They then do what comes naturally to them. In a second, they flee the scene of their crime and get their parents and friends to try and hide all evidence of their involvement in the incident, including getting the vehicle washed clean of bloodstains.If it wasn't for the persistence of a police inspector who tracked theoffenders down by following the oil track left by the battered car, the incident may have become just one more of those innocuous two-paragraph reports of hit-and-run accidents that routinely appear in newspapers and are quickly forgotten thereafter. As it happens, the young driver of the BMW was none other than the grandson of a former chief of naval staff and the son of a wealthy arms dealer. In the scramble to protect the easy riders, their families came up with a litany of excuses, but no one even bothered to express grief and concern for the five lower-middle class families who had lost their bread-winners on that dreadful night. But this, too, is typical of Indraprastha's elite. Cocooned in their fancy homes and farmhouses, they have never really bothered to look beyond the carefully manicured lawns of their backyards. As they plead the cause of their children, they forget that there could be children in other families who now face a hopeless future without their fathers.The question of course iswill the rest of this story follow the pre-ordained script? Will the privileged lineage of the driver influence its trajectory? Will family clout and bank accounts help paper over the horror of it all? It's not the first time that such incidents have occurred. Some years ago, the late film actor Raaj Kumar's son, Puru, was embroiled in just such circumstances. His driving left three dead and others wounded. The bigwigs of Bombay's filmdom in a rare display of unity left no stone unturned to save the young man from the opprobrium of a jail sentence. Not surprisingly, the man was let off after paying minuscule amounts to the families of the victims by way of compensation. Justice was certainly not done here. It revealed the existence of two worlds - one so privileged that it is a law unto itself, the other so marginalised that it can get no real justice. If this happens yet again in the most recent instance, it would only confirm this unacceptable schism in civil society.
