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Manu gets life term for Jessica murder
Published on Wed, Dec 20, 2006 at 11:52, Updated on Wed, Dec 20, 2006 at 19:21 in India section
Tags: Jessica Lall, Murder , New Delhi
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New Delhi: When the moment of truth finally arrived for Manu Sharma - guilty of the murder of model Jessica Lall at a swinging late-night party in a south Delhi restaurant seven years ago - not even the much-touted defence could turn fortunes in his favour.
Neither could his being a political prodigee – Manu alias Siddharth Vashisht is the son of Haryana Congressman Venod Sharma – save him from getting a life term in a case that was revived by a consistent public outcry and a strong media debate.
In fact, it was a triple blow for Manu, who was acquitted in February on the same charges by a lower court.
On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court sentenced Manu to life imprisonment for the murder, four years imprisonment for possession of illegal arms under the Arms Act and another four-year jail term for criminal conspiracy.
He was also slapped with a Rs-50,000 fine that would be paid to Jessica’s family.
Manu’s lawyer R K Nasseem said he will challenge the verdict in Supreme Court. In the arguments leading up to the quantum, while the prosecution pushed for death penalty for Manu, the High Court Bench comprising R S Sodhi and P K Bhasin turned it down saying it was not the "rarest of rare cases" and that there was a possibility of "the convict being reformed".
What does life term mean? According to a Supreme Court judgement, life term must be treated as imprisonment for the remaining period of the convict's natural life. The apex court reiterated that life imprisonment is not equivalent to imprisonment for 14 or 20 years. |
But, it was perhaps Delhi Police counsel Mukta Gupta’s argument that summed it all up.
Countering the defence argument urging leniency, Gupta said, "it was writ large on the face of record that no sign of any remorse had been shown by the convict during the trial".
Partners in crime
Manu’s friends and co-accused Vikas Yadav and Amardeep Singh Gill alias Tony were sentenced to four years rigorous imprisonment each for aiding and abetment of the crime and will pay a fine of Rs 2,000 each.
Gill - who was convicted under sections 201 (destruction of evidence) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) - had moved the court on Tuesday seeking bail and stating that all the offences under these sections were bailable under the law.
But while announcing the quantum for the duo, the Bench agreed with prosecution that the two knew the gravity of offence yet they shielded the facts and tried to destroy the evidence.
"We are of the view that Tony Gill cannot be released by giving benefit under Probation of Offender's Act," the Bench said.
What it means for Sabrina Lall
The verdict came as a huge relief for Jessica’s sister Sabrina Lall, who has been thanking the media and the public profusely for having stood by her throughout.
She described Wednesday’s sentencing as a “closure” of the case. "There is a certain amount of closure to the long drawn case. I couldn’t have asked God for more. I don’t believe in death sentence so I’m very happy with the judgment,” she said.
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