Keenan-Reuben case: Will justice be delivered?

Mumbai: Amidst the national outrage over the Guwahati mob molestation incident, BJP Mahila Morcha National President Smriti Irani had said India was a nation of headline chasers. "The outrage lasts only till the headlines last," she had said.

Her outburst finds resonance with Valerian Santos, the father of Keenan who was murdered in October 2011 along with his friend Reuben as they tried to protect a female friend of theirs from molesters.

While public outrage followed the murders, nine months on, trial is yet to begin in the case. One of the accused has already applied for bail, despite the state's promise to fast-track the case.

One of the accused has already applied for bail, despite the state\'s promise to fast-track the case.

"After the media goes away, nothing happens. The promises are made at that time by the government, but there is no follow up afterwards from the government," says a dejected Santos.

Well wishers had told the families their sons should have simply walked away that fateful night. But isn't being a mute spectator a bigger crime, they ask? Isn't it worse that some point fingers at the victims themselves?

"If after working the whole day, they cannot go to a decent place where there is a decent crowd, what kind of life do our government or these so-called moral people expect the women to lead?" Santos asks.

He believes swift and certain punishment is the only deterrent.

"We want all the bailable sections to be made non-bailable," he says.

The Keenan-Reuben trial is expected to start sometime later this month. The Guwahati molesters are still at large. With case progress being sluggish, the question on everyone's mind is - Is justice delayed, justice denied?

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