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| Model Jessica Lal: Everybody?s talking |
?How can you get away with murder just because you have cash and contacts? Why couldn?t police recover the murder weapon? Were all the witnesses and cops bought??
The Calcutta nightclubs are alive to the questions crying out for answers in the Jessica Lal murder case. Overshadowing bird flu as the talking point of the February nights is the murder of the model and the subsequent trial that saw the accused ? rich and powerful, all ? being acquitted.
Jessica, 34, was shot dead during a private party in Delhi in 1999. The motive of the murder: she allegedly refused Manu Sharma, son of a Haryana minister, a drink as the bar was closed. After seven years of trial, the acquittal came in a Delhi court last Tuesday, sparking public outrage.
On the city dance floors and the sofas bordering them, justice for Jessica is on everybody?s lips. ?From last Wednesday night, the entire discussion has revolved around the Jessica Lal case,? says DJ Girish of Shisha Bar.
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?There was a lot of anger to begin with, but as talk of the case being reopened picked up, and a media campaign for Jessica began, the mood started lifting around weekend. The fact that popular pressure, in the form of SMS and all that, seems to be working is also a great source of excitement,? adds Girish.
Topping the hate list for the moment are ?all those witnesses who chickened out?, And starring in the dubious list is city boy and model-actor Shayan Munshi, a key witness who turned hostile.
The Jessica murder case, of course, has every ingredient to get the party people going ? glamour, crime, money power and denial of justice.
?I really feel bad for Jessica Lal?s family for the complete injustice done to them,? says actress and nightclub regular June.
Adds Koneenica Banerjee: ?In our country, criminals have so many ways to escape justice.?
What the case has also reopened is the concern over security at the city party addresses.
The bouncer at the door and the hand-held metal detectors at the entrance ? sparingly used on non-regulars ? are the only security measures in place.
?The Calcutta nightclubs are far safer than Delhi,? stresses DJ Harish of Dublin.
But with the number of nightclubs on the rise and the pool of party people growing, it?s time for the vigil to be stepped up.
?Though the chances of such incidents (Jessica murder) are far less in Calcutta, where unlike Delhi people hardly flaunt their money or their connections, but one has to be constantly on the lookout for troublemakers,? says a spokesperson for B.E.D.
