Shayan Munshi, on the other hand, still stands a chance, a fair one in that. That's even after he allegedly made an abortive bid to fly out to Bangkok from the 'eyewitness' stand in the Jessica Lal murder case.
But the model-turned-actor does run a fair risk of going the Zaheera way now that he has already taken a U-turn in the first round of trial in the Jessica Lal case.
His U-turn may not have been as famous as Jaheera's and nobody can really tell where does the law really take him to, but the high society's double-standard in these two cases has been too glaring to ignore.
India lives as an activist society today. Errr... by India, I don't really try and mean Sitapur. For this blog doesn't even run the rarest chance of reaching them. This activist society is a high-profile, high-morale, highly-talking and highly-Page3 one, who will light a thousand candles for Jessica and raise a storm over Zaheera U-turn, yet dither unendingly to take someone like Shayan Munshi to the public court.
So, there he is, leading the glitterati lifestyle of a Bollywood brat, planning cool holidays in Bangkok and wherever he can possibly afford to escape. That's despite the fact that he was one of those whose U-turn has led to the acquittal of the nine accused in the Jessica case and undone an entire process of the law.
So, when the high society hits in street, candle lights in hand, to seek justice for Jessica, Shayan Munshi can still keep bar-hopping, unfettered.
The high society, the activist society, can somehow understand that he may still have problems comprehending Hindi, what if he features in Hindi movies! Does Shayan Munshi's 'hostile acts' fall short of what is considered a 'flip-flop', which has earned Zaheera 1 year's jail and a Rs 50,000 fine? Well, my 'activist society' isn't yet answering that.
Best Bakery and Jessica murder may be two cases poles apart. But both of them are heinous crimes - and this puts both Zaheera and Shayan on the same platform of prime witnesses, who were expected to play key roles in helping the process of justice. Both are also cases of two prime witnesses turning hostile. Both let us all down.
In Zaheera's case, the only dimension that sets her case apart was the fact that apart from being a witness, Zaheera was also a victim of communal riot, the Best Bakery incident itself. Best Bakery was owned by her family and she lost her sister and maternal uncle. When Zaheera turned hostile, the common refrain was: "How can she do this to her community?" "Why she is changing her statement?" "Ohh, Zaheera has taken money for this."
Shayan suffered nothing in the murder of Jessica Lal, except probably losing a friend. He was merely a witness, who claimed to be 'at the wrong place at a wrong time'. That, unfortunately, now turns out to be a 'wrong friend at a wrong place at the wrong time."
Justice still remains elusive for Jessica. It will probably remain so till the lawkeepers link up the cause and effect.first published:May 15, 2006, 16:41 ISTlast updated:May 15, 2006, 16:41 IST
window._taboola = window._taboola || [];_taboola.push({mode: 'thumbnails-mid-article',container: 'taboola-mid-article-thumbnails',placement: 'Mid Article Thumbnails',target_type: 'mix'});
let eventFire = false;
window.addEventListener('scroll', () => {
if (window.taboolaInt && !eventFire) {
setTimeout(() => {
ga('send', 'event', 'Mid Article Thumbnails', 'PV');
ga('set', 'dimension22', "Taboola Yes");
}, 4000);
eventFire = true;
}
});
window._taboola = window._taboola || [];_taboola.push({mode: 'thumbnails-a', container: 'taboola-below-article-thumbnails', placement: 'Below Article Thumbnails', target_type: 'mix' });Latest News
Who wants to be Zaheera Sheikh? Not many I guess. The hero in Zaheera has long turned zero after the Supreme Court caught her lies and convicted her for perjury.
Shayan Munshi, on the other hand, still stands a chance, a fair one in that. That's even after he allegedly made an abortive bid to fly out to Bangkok from the 'eyewitness' stand in the Jessica Lal murder case.
But the model-turned-actor does run a fair risk of going the Zaheera way now that he has already taken a U-turn in the first round of trial in the Jessica Lal case.
His U-turn may not have been as famous as Jaheera's and nobody can really tell where does the law really take him to, but the high society's double-standard in these two cases has been too glaring to ignore.
India lives as an activist society today. Errr... by India, I don't really try and mean Sitapur. For this blog doesn't even run the rarest chance of reaching them. This activist society is a high-profile, high-morale, highly-talking and highly-Page3 one, who will light a thousand candles for Jessica and raise a storm over Zaheera U-turn, yet dither unendingly to take someone like Shayan Munshi to the public court.
So, there he is, leading the glitterati lifestyle of a Bollywood brat, planning cool holidays in Bangkok and wherever he can possibly afford to escape. That's despite the fact that he was one of those whose U-turn has led to the acquittal of the nine accused in the Jessica case and undone an entire process of the law.
So, when the high society hits in street, candle lights in hand, to seek justice for Jessica, Shayan Munshi can still keep bar-hopping, unfettered.
The high society, the activist society, can somehow understand that he may still have problems comprehending Hindi, what if he features in Hindi movies! Does Shayan Munshi's 'hostile acts' fall short of what is considered a 'flip-flop', which has earned Zaheera 1 year's jail and a Rs 50,000 fine? Well, my 'activist society' isn't yet answering that.
Best Bakery and Jessica murder may be two cases poles apart. But both of them are heinous crimes - and this puts both Zaheera and Shayan on the same platform of prime witnesses, who were expected to play key roles in helping the process of justice. Both are also cases of two prime witnesses turning hostile. Both let us all down.
In Zaheera's case, the only dimension that sets her case apart was the fact that apart from being a witness, Zaheera was also a victim of communal riot, the Best Bakery incident itself. Best Bakery was owned by her family and she lost her sister and maternal uncle. When Zaheera turned hostile, the common refrain was: "How can she do this to her community?" "Why she is changing her statement?" "Ohh, Zaheera has taken money for this."
Shayan suffered nothing in the murder of Jessica Lal, except probably losing a friend. He was merely a witness, who claimed to be 'at the wrong place at a wrong time'. That, unfortunately, now turns out to be a 'wrong friend at a wrong place at the wrong time."
Justice still remains elusive for Jessica. It will probably remain so till the lawkeepers link up the cause and effect.
Comments
0 comment