Ma da Laadla Bighad Gayaa

Manu Sharma and his Maa ke values …
Thank God I am not Manu Sharma’s ‘maa’!! I am sure millions of mothers across India are also thanking the Almighty for sparing them from such a curse! Jessica Lall’s cold-blooded murderer wrote a maudlin’ letter to his precious ‘maa’, before crawling back to prison earlier this week. The contents of the letter are priceless. After raging against the media for being so mean to him ( poor, little killer boy!), he thanked his mother for teaching him the right values!! We’d love to know what those values are, going by Manu’s track record. Do they include murder,bullying, cheating, lying ? Not only did Manu fib about his mother’s health while applying for a parole that should never have been granted to such a person, but his supposedly ailing mother Shakti Sharma, compounded that lie by brazenly attending a press meet in Chandigarh, looking perfectly hale and hearty. The grandmother , whose religious rituals, Manu claimed he was required to attend, has been dead for years. Meanwhile Manu himself was busy attending to ‘neglected’ business matters at various bars in the Capital. Who let this dangerous man out??
Sheila Dixit is in deep ….err…. trouble. Her ‘executive discretion’ in the Manu Sharma parole case is being questioned. It is shocking that someone of her standing and stature should look the other way and shrug off what has been a clear case of preferential treatment and blatant discrimination. Such double standards can only be labeled an abuse of privilege, power and position. Authorities are being accused of ‘bending the rules and procedures.” And, guess what? All this bending and twisting of rules has come to light only because of the aggressive stand taken by the media ( same lot that will not let bechara Manu live in peace, as he cribbed to his maa). Or else, it might have been another instance of business as usual for Manu and all those involved in organising his Delhi picnic. Had Sharma not misbehaved at a popular club that night and got into a scuffle, this convicted killer would have continued partying and lap dancing well after Happy Hours. Who knows - another young girl might have ended up with a bullet through her head for refusing to serve this obnoxious guy a fresh drink after the bar closed. Meanwhile, a so-called ‘tycoon’, Samir Thapar, flew into a rage because the bumbling Delhi cops had the ‘himmat’ to pick him up even though his only ‘crime’ that fateful night was to rev up his sportscar’s engine . Come on, guys, give him a break - it was only 3 a.m at the time –and too bad if sleeping unclejis and auntyjis in the neighbourhood got disturbed by the ear- shattering growls of his fancy Ferrari!
Everybody agrees the justice system is being taken for a ride here. Given the scarey statistics ( 60% prisoners flee while out on parole), there is obviously something not just very wrong, but terribly fishy about the granting of parole to the favoured few. In Manu’s case, the weak official explanation was that a parole gives prisoners the chance to reform and renew ties with family. And with drinking buddies? But in reality, most jailbirds use this as an opportunity to escape, knowing the chances of getting away with it are exceedingly high.Bitti Mohanty, son of a top cop, jailed for rape, has done the skip ( same excuse as Manu – ailing mother) and has successfully evaded arrest for months. Several other hard core criminals are out there on the run, safe and secure in the knowledge that nobody is serious about going after them. The list includes murderers armed with deadly weapons. And this worrying information comes from just one source - the Amritsar central jail which shows that more than 8,200 deadly prisoners are on the run , waiting to strike again. All prisoners are supposed to be equal in the eyes of the law. Obviously, some lucky ones are more equal than the other suckers.
The rest of India describes what happened with Manu Sharma that night as the ‘Delhi Syndrome’. Translated, this means, if pappaji is well-connected ( Manu’s father is a powerful Congressman , known for his closeness to the top leadership) , moneyed (the Sharmas are seriously loaded), or an influential cop, Pappu’s derriere is fully covered. He can do drugs, booze, arms, prostitutes – no problem. Why, he can completely lose it if his drink doesn’t reach him fast enough, whip out a gun and – bam – kill the bar tender. He can rape, assault,mutilate, pimp, kidnap, terrorise,blackmail… you name the crime …he’ll get away with it. After all , what is the point of having a politico as a Daddy-O if he can’t bail him out and save his butt ?Perhaps these are the ‘values’ Manu was referring to in his letter to his mother as he whimpered, “ Maa, I assure you that I have done nothing wrong, maybe it is my fate….”
Just as it was Jessica’s fate to get shot dead by Manu ? What did she do wrong?
Any answers, Sheila Dixit??
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I love Mahesh Bhatt. He is passionate, well read, gutsy and impossible. So... when he called me on Friday to talk about my tweet on his son Rahul ( yup, same guy who has landed himself in a spot in the David Coleman Headley case), I was all ears and most interested in his take on what had gone wrong. Mahesh must have really worked the phone lines with the media after the story hit the headlines that day, as is clear from the front page coverage his version has received this morning. " They are making a villain out of a hero," fumes Mahesh in his son's defence. While Mahesh's daughter Pooja reserves her rage for my tweet where I had called the Bhatts a 'dysfunctional' family ( the Bhatts don't exactly exemplify the average Indian family, and that's what makes them unique) . This is a real hot potato - it is a highly sensitive and complicated case, and I do sympathise with Mahesh for having to deal with yet another crisis in the family. Pooja says she has seen her dad age in the past two days. As a daughter, she must feel for him. I understand. But the case won't be solved this easily. There are far too many investigating agencies involved in what has become an international terror investigation, with the FBI leading the war against Headley. It is indeed a pity, if a gullible young man called Rahul Bhatt, has been drawn into the mess because of odd circumstances . Alas, we live in odd times.