The horror still haunts

Sushil Sharma has been declared guilty of murder, and one hopes justice will finally be rendered. As far as criminal acts go, as far as the ...

Sushil Sharma has been declared guilty of murder, and one hopes justice will finally be rendered. As far as criminal acts go, as far as the brutality of murder can be graded, details of Naina Sahni8217;s death still defy comprehension. Even in its retelling, the story continues to horrify. Ever since that July night in 1995, when Sharma, a former Youth Congress president, shot his 8220;wife8221; and then tried to incinerate the proof, the case has been perceived as much more than just another celebrity trial. Writers of crime fiction contend that some murders are emblematic of their age, and the Tandoor Murder Case can be singled out as the beginning of India8217;s deep and dangerous disenchantment with its ruling class. Its long and protracted trial has seen growing public conviction that the powerful always evade punishment. In its conclusion, with Sharma pronounced 8220;guilty beyond doubt8221;, lie tips on how to strengthen our criminal justice delivery system.

When Sharma was arrested in mid-1995, criminalisation of politics was a phenomenon the country was just starting to get a measure of. In its gruesomeness and the web of connections Sharma tried to harness, it foreshadowed things to come. It set the framework for the manner in which criminal case involving politicians would be tracked and assessed 8212; whether it be the Jessica Lal murder case that followed in 1999 and the Madhumita Shukla investigation that is now proceeding. It fell into place in the devaluation of the political class that threatened with news of one scam after another streaming in. And as Sharma8217;s counsels dilated proceedings by pleading that his case be transferred from one court to another and by augmenting the list of witnesses, it showed how justice can be delayed, if not denied. For instance, no new facts have emerged since the case was committed for trial eight years ago. So, if it takes almost a decade to close an open-and-shut case, how much longer would be necessary for a more complicated criminal offence? The constable who chanced upon Sahni8217;s body parts in the restaurant tandoor says he was tempted with a Rs 10 lakh bribe. In publicly spurning the offer, he amplified whisperings that would follow later when witnesses routinely turned hostile in case after case.

Today, in any case things appear to have come full circle. Those seeking seating space in legislatures will now have to provide full disclosure about their criminal record, if any. Casting such summary aspersions is, of course, unfair. Politicians could simply blame it on a few bad eggs like Sharma. Or they could become proactive and address the rot within.