English Project.docx

No One Killed Jessica Project submitted to: Mr Jeevan Sagar

Project submitted by: Amogha Shyam Konamme Semester I, Roll No: 27 Section C

English Project Date of submission: 23rd October 2019

Hidayatullah National Law University

Atal Nagar, Nava Raipur –492002(C.G.)

DECLARATION I hereby declare that this project titled “Social Interaction in Everyday Life; an analysis” is my own work and represents my own ideas, and where others’ ideas or words have been included. I have adequately cited and referenced the original sources. I also declare that I have adhered to all principles of academic honesty and integrity and have not misrepresented or fabricated or falsified any idea/data/fact/source in my submission. Amogha Shyam Konamme Section C, Roll no. 27 B.A. L.L.B. (Hons), Semester I

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I feel highly elated to work on the topic “No One Killed Jessica”. No creation in this world is the sole effort, nor is this work of mine. The practical realization of this project has obligated the assistance of many persons. First of all, I would like to thank my faculty teacher Mr Jeevan Sagar sir for his invaluable suggestion and guidance. It would not have been possible for me to frame this project of mine without his support. I would like to thank my family and friends without whose support and encouragement, this project would not have been a reality. I take this opportunity to also thank the University and the Vice Chancellor for providing extensive database resources in the library and through the internet. Some typing errors must have crept in, which are deeply regretted. I would be grateful to receive comments and suggestions to further improve this project report. Amogha Shyam Konamme Section C, Roll no. 27 B.A. L.L.B. (Hons), Semester I

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CONTENTS Declaration..................................................................................................................................I Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................II Introduction................................................................................................................................1 An overview of the case.............................................................................................................2 Trial............................................................................................................................................3 Reaction to the verdict...............................................................................................................3 Appeal and conviction in High Court........................................................................................5 Judgement..............................................................................................................................5 Parole for Manu Sharma........................................................................................................5 Confirmation of the sentences by the Supreme Court...........................................................6 Prosecution of the ‘hostile witnesses’....................................................................................6 In popular media........................................................................................................................7 References..................................................................................................................................9

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INTRODUCTION It is well known that all over the world, the rich and the powerful have considerable influence over a lot of things. Where there is money, there is power and when one has power in his hands, more often than not, it is going to be misused. The murder Jessica Lal is a classic example of the rich and the powerful trying to influence the judicial system through money power and bullying so that they get protection from any punishment after being on the wrong side of the law. It was similar to the Priyadarshini Mattoo murder case and the Nitish Katara murder case which too involved powerful murderers. The murder of Jessica Lal was notorious because of the status of the killer and the way in which he tried to protect himself after the crime but, what made it iconic was the reaction of the public that followed the acquittal of the accused- their disgust at the arrogance of the powerful and the powerlessness of the authorities to prevent them from getting away with such behaviour. The fact that the public and the media succeeded in bringing the culprits to justice further emphasised the iconic status of the case.

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AN OVERVIEW OF THE CASE Jessica Lal was one of the models working in an unlicensed bar in the ‘Tamarind Court’ restaurant, which was the venue of a socialite party in New Delhi. The bar ran out of liquor by midnight and in any case, it would have stopped the sale of liquor at half past twelve. At around two o clock, Manu Sharma demanded to be served liquor and was refused by Jessica. Offended, Manu fired his pistol twice. The first bullet hit the ceiling while the second hit Jessica in the head and proved to be fatal. Following this, Manu and his friends- Amandeep Singh Gill, Alok Khanna and Vikas Yadav fled the scene1. Amandeep Singh Gill and Alok Khanna were officials in the ‘Coca Cola’ company, while Vikas Yadav was the son of an influential politician in Uttar Pradesh, Dharam Pal Yadav. Manu stayed at Yadav’s Ghaziabad home the night of the incident. They eluded the police for a few days before getting caught by the police; Gill and Khanna on the fourth of May and Sharma in Chandigarh on the sixth of May. An accomplice of Manu, Amit Jhingan was arrested on the eighth of May for conspiring to destroy evidence as it was believed that he retrieved the pistol from where it was kept after the incident. The police were unable to trace the whereabouts of Yadav. Bina Ramani, the owner of the ‘Tamarind Court’, had claimed that the party was a farewell party for her husband, George Mailhot. However, it became clear to the police that the party was open to anyone who was willing to pay. Bina, her husband and her daughter were arrested on the eighth of May and charged with operating an illegal bar. They were later released on bail. However, they had to surrender their passports. Yadav came before the police on the nineteenth of May with anticipatory bail papers. Thus, he could leave immediately. He claimed to have been in Mumbai and elsewhere during the previous few weeks. He admitted that Sharma had stayed with him on the night of the murder but denied being present himself at the ‘Tamarind Court’ restaurant or having any knowledge of the events that had occurred there until the next day, when he told Sharma to surrender to the police.2

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UNI, Manu Sharma, Vikas Yadav charged with Jessica Lal’s murder, Rediff.com, (3rd August 1999) https://www.rediff.com/news/1999/aug/03jess.htm. 2 Suhasini Haidar, Vikas Yadav surrenders, yet escapes, Rediff.com (19 May 1999), https://www.rediff.com/news/1999/may/19vikas1.htm.

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TRIAL Manu Sharma was charged with murder, destruction of evidence and other offences, while Khanna, Gill and Yadav faced lesser charges, including destruction of evidence, conspiracy and harbouring a suspect. Others similarly charged were Shyam Sunder Sharma, Amit Jhingan, Yograj Singh, Harvinder Chopra, Vikas Gill, Raja Chopra, Ravinder Krishan Sudan and Dhanraj. Charge sheets were filed in the court on the 3rd of August 1999.1 During the course of the trial one by one, thirty-two of the witnesses turned hostile leading to the acquittal of the nine of the accused on the 22nd of February 2006. Later, in 2011 all of the thirty-two ‘hostile’ witnesses were charged with perjury.

REACTION TO THE VERDICT The acquittal sparked of widespread protests across the country with scores of people pouring onto the streets against it. It released the anger and ill feeling that the urban middle class had towards the rich and the beaurocracy since the public, with god reason, felt that the the rich and the powerful were influencing the decision of the court with ease. The general feeling was that Manu Sharma who was the son of Venod Sharma, a Member of Parliament from Haryana and the other accused were acquitted by the court because of their powerful status. An article in the 13th of March 2006 edition of The New York Times newspaper described the reaction of the public as “The acquittal two weeks ago unleashed a rare outrage in this country, just as it raised uncomfortable questions about the uneven course of justice in a society evermore polarized between the well-heeled and the rest. Most noticeably among India's urban middle class, the acquittal has released a pent-up frustration with an often blundering and corrupt law enforcement bureaucracy and a deep disgust with the rich and famous who, by all appearances, manipulated it to their advantage.”3

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Somini Sengupta, Acquittal in Killing Unleashes Ire at India's Rich, The New York Times, (13th March 2006), https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/13/world/asia/acquittal-in-killing-unleashes-ire-at-indias-rich.html.

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University students sent SMS messages around New Delhi, urging citizens to rise up and protest against the faulty law system. The protestors wanted to get justice for Lal’s death. They called the acquittal the “miscarriage of justice.” Indian citizens took to the streets for marches and rallies.3 The Bollywood movie ‘Rang de Basanti’, which was also released in 2006, greatly influenced the way the protests were carried out. A campaign urging people to petition for retrial received tremendous response from the public. The media ran headlines that read “No one killed Jessica”. Newspapers and televisions ran headlines that read “No one killed Jessica.” A lot of models, fashion designers and family and friends held candlelight vigils against the acquittal. The unrelenting pressure from the media and the public led to the police’s ordering a reinvestigation of the incident.4 4

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Geeta Pandey, India campaign for murdered Delhi model, The BBC News, (9th March 2006), http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4783394.stm

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APPEAL AND CONVICTION IN HIGH COURT The police appealed the High Court to review the case and the court issued arrest warrants against the nine accused who had been acquitted.5 On 9 September 2006, ‘Tehelka’, a news magazine, aired a show on the television that showed that witnesses had accepted bribes to retract their initial testimonies. Manu Sharma’s father, Venod Sharma was named as one of the people who paid money to some of the witnesses.

JUDGEMENT The Delhi High Court on the 15th of December 2006 found Manu Sharma guilty of murdering Jessica Lal based on the existing evidence. The judgement criticised the trial judge and the witnesses who turned hostile.6 The court slapped Manu Sharma with a sentence of life imprisonment and a fine. Vikas Yadav and Amandeep Gill were sentenced with four years of rigorous imprisonment and fines. A plea for death sentence to Sharma was rejected as the murder was not premeditated and Sharma was not a ‘threat to the society’.7

PAROLE FOR MANU SHARMA The Delhi government in 2009 paroled Manu Sharma for thirty days to attend to certain business matters and his ill mother.8 However, he was seen partying and his mother, attending public functions. He was again granted parole for a very short period from the 28th of December 2013 to the 5th of January 2014 so that he could give his master’s degree examination.9

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Onkar Singh, Jessica case: Manu Sharma grated bail, Rediff.com, (18th April 2006), https://www.rediff.com/news/2006/apr/18jessica.htm 6 PTI, Key witness in Jessica case dubbed liar by HC, Rediff.com, (19th December 2006), https://www.rediff.com/news/2006/dec/19jessica1.htm 7 Sanghita Singh, Manu Sharma gets life term, Daily News and Analysis, (27th December 2006), https://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=107029 8 TNN, Manu Sharma out on 30-day parole, The Times of India, (25th September 2009), https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Manu-Sharma-out-on-30-day-parole/articleshow/5052879.cms? referral=PM 9 Aneesha Mathur, Manu Sharma gets 9-day parole to take human rights exam, The Indian Express, (19th December 2013), http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/manu-sharma-gets-9day-parole-to-take-human-rightsexam/1209355/

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CONFIRMATION OF THE SENTENCES BY THE SUPREME COURT The Supreme Court confirmed the sentence given by the High Court. Former Solicitor General of India, Gopal Subramaniam, argued on behalf of the prosecution. Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, who represented Sharma in the Supreme Court, assailed the High Court verdict, alleging that the media had prejudged the issue and conducted a campaign to vilify his client. The Supreme Court accepted that there had been an element of "trial by media" but believed that it had not affected the decision of the High Court.10

PROSECUTION OF THE ‘HOSTILE WITNESSES’ The Delhi High Court, in May 2013 ordered prosecution of of film actor Shayan Munshi who was also serving drinks to the guests with Jessica on the day of her killing. It also ordered the prosecution of ballistic expert, P.S. Manocha for turning hostile. Seventeen other people who had allegedly turned hostile were cleared of perjury charges by the court. Ten other people were cleared of the charges in earlier hearing and three had died since the original trial.11

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J.Venkatesan, Supreme Court confirms life sentence to Manu Sharma, The Hindu, (19th April 2010), https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Supreme-Court-confirms-life-term-to-ManuSharma/article16371172.ece 11 PTI, Jessica Lal murder:Actor Shayan Munshi, ballistic expert Manocha to face perjury trial, The Indian Express, (22nd May 2013) https://web.archive.org/web/20130619011828/http://www.indianexpress.com/news/jessica-lall-murder-actorshayan-munshi-ballistic-expert-manocha-to-face-perjury-trial/1119095/0

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IN POPULAR MEDIA A Bollywood film named ‘No One Killed Jessica’ was released in 2011. It starred celebrated Bollywood actresses Rani Mukerji as ‘Meera Gaity’, a news reporter and Vidya Balan as ‘Sabrina Ali’ Jessica sister. It depicts the struggle Sabrina and her family went through to get justice for Jessica and how Meera, helps her in doing so. The director of the film, Raj Kumar Gupta revealed that the name of the film was inspired by a 2006 newspaper headline. The film was received well by the public and the critics. It got mostly positive reviews from the critics; Nikhat Kazmi of the ‘Times of India’ gave it four out of five stars remarking that the film “unleashes a myriad of emotions”,12 Anupama Chopra of ‘NDTV’ gave the film three out of five stars, claiming that the film was "several notches ahead of the tripe we’ve been subjected to in theatres lately."13, Rajeev Masand of ‘CNN-IBN’ gave it two and a half out of five stars, calling it a "full-on melodrama that doesn't always ring true." Mayank Shekhar of the ‘Hindustan Times’ gave it three out of five stars.14 Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan described ‘No One Killed Jessica’ as a "pertinent, media friendly and brave effort by the makers. The performances living up to the title and story of the film." The film went on to collect ₹103 crore worldwide and was declared a ‘Super Hit’ by ‘Box Office India’.

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Nikhat Kazmi, No One Killed Jessica Critic’s Review, The Times of India, (6th January 2011), https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/movie-reviews/No-One-Killed-Jessica/moviereview/7223464.cms 13 Anupama Chopra, Movie Review: No One Killed Jessica, NDTV, (7th January 2011), https://web.archive.org/web/20140109030640/http://movies.ndtv.com/movie-reviews/movie-review-no-onekilled-jessica-585 14 Mayank Shekar, Mayank Shekar’s review: No One Killed Jessica, Hindustan Times, (7th January 2011), https://web.archive.org/web/20110110053554/http://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/reviews/MayankShekhar-s-Review-No-One-Killed-Jessica/Article1-647468.aspx

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The film won several awards. They are listed below. 1. Filmfare Awards 

Best Supporting Actor (Female) - Rani Mukerji

2. BIG Star Entertainment Awards 

Most Entertaining Social Film

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Best Actress in a Social Role – Rani Mukerji

3. Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Awards 

Outstanding Performance Award – Rani Mukerji

4. Anandalok Purushkar 

Best Female Actor of Bollywood – Rani Mukerji

5. Apsara Awards 

Best Editing

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REFERENCES 1. https://www.rediff.com/news/1999/aug/03jess.htm. 2. https://www.rediff.com/news/1999/may/19vikas1.htm 3. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/13/world/asia/acquittal-in-killing-unleashes-ire-atindias-rich.html. 4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4783394.stm 5. https://www.rediff.com/news/2006/apr/18jessica.htm 6. https://www.rediff.com/news/2006/dec/19jessica1.htm 7. https://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=107029 8. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Manu-Sharma-out-on-30-dayparole/articleshow/5052879.cms?referral=PM 9. http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/manu-sharma-gets-9day-parole-to-takehuman-rights-exam/1209355/ 10. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Supreme-Court-confirms-life-term-toManu-Sharma/article16371172.ece 11. https://web.archive.org/web/20130619011828/http://www.indianexpress.com/news/je ssica-lall-murder-actor-shayan-munshi-ballistic-expert-manocha-to-face-perjurytrial/1119095/0 12. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/movie-reviews/No-OneKilled-Jessica/movie-review/7223464.cms 13. https://web.archive.org/web/20140109030640/http://movies.ndtv.com/moviereviews/movie-review-no-one-killed-jessica-585 14. https://web.archive.org/web/20110110053554/http://www.hindustantimes.com/enterta inment/reviews/Mayank-Shekhar-s-Review-No-One-Killed-Jessica/Article1647468.aspx

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