Close in the heels of a strong reprimand to the CBI and recent acquittal of the accused Talwars on the charges of the murder of their daughter Aarushi and their servant Hemraj, another botch-up by the investigative agencies have come to light in the murder case of an eight-year-old Pradyuman Thakur, a student of Ryan International School, Gurgaon. A throat-slit body of the kid was found in the toilet and the police claimed to have had a quick ‘break’ in the case arresting the 42-year-old school bus conductor Ashok Kumar, thereby virtually closing the matter.
Now comes the revelation that the bloodstained knife was planted on Kumar, who apparently, under coercive methods of the police, admitted to the murder that he never committed. This after a public outcry and the case handed over to the CBI.
What could have caused the poor man to admit and apparently head for the hangman’s rope or at least a life sentence in jail? One: he like millions are in perpetual penury, causing a fear psychosis on power wielded by the police and politicians. Second: his illiteracy (our nation should hang its head in shame for this malady even after 70 years of independence), three: his innocence in trusting the cops who must’ve also assured him of release soon in higher court appeals in the long-winding labyrinth of courts.
The present accused, the student of Class XI, who has again confessed to the crime, throws up a completely different ethos, a pressure of a kind hitherto unknown and unexperienced; the irrepressible pressure from studies, often throwing bold but weak students taking to gory crimes such, and the weaker to end their lives with ‘Blue-whale,’ syndromes. The arrested student, was merely looking for a way to thwart a Parent-teacher meeting, where he would have been exposed and could have faced the wrath of his parents, and to scuttle the ensuing school exams in which he may have failed.
Be that as it may, what prompts the police to wrap-up the case on mere premise that the conductor could have been the murder? Delhi police, unlike their Mumbai counterparts, are famous for the notoriety and their yielding to political pressures, often deliberately misleading the investigations by either tampering with the evidence or their destruction for hefty considerations.
Notwithstanding the fact that the present accused was visible in the CCTV footage and was the first to report the murder to the school authorities, none apparently bothered to question the boy, merely because the media was already blaring with the ‘fish-eye’ photos of the innocent conductor, giving all gory details, highlighting sodomisation being the cause of murder. The world, including me, hated the conductor and I feel ashamed of myself now.
The Director General of Police dismisses their lapses saying, “koi Baat nahin,” no big deal. He will laugh his way along with his rowdy police force without the requirement for an explanation and with usual perks and pensions upon retirement. Why the police who had planted the knife on the conductor were not immediately arrested and why the entire earlier investigative team not suspended? Well that’s not the way the police force responsibly behaves in India. Why not the media being taken to task in planting stories, which were farthest from truth and endangering the life of a poor innocent man? They needed TRPs and had to be ahead of other channels.
Ashok Kumar, whom his village knows as the murderer may not be able to wipe-off the stigma all throughout his life. His news of acquittal may not travel as speedily as his conviction. He will continue to be poor, but that doesn’t matter, as he was born as such and will die as such. My heart goes out to the parents of Praduman!
Shame!
Sampath Kumar
Interpidé voix