Justice At Last...

Finally curtains come down on the nine-year old long trial in the murder case pof journalist

Shivani Bhatnagar.
We can aptly say here that "Better Late Than Never".

Shivani Bhatnagar was a Principal Correspondent with he Indian Express.
Ravi Kant Sharma was a 1976 batch IPS officer.
Shivani was murdered at her apartment in East Delhi on 23rd January,1999.On the day the murder

was held two men posing as aquaintances came to meet her at her apartment.Shivani even offered

them tea,later she was found stabbed in her apartment.
Police Crime Branch cracked the case of this murder after more than three years when they made

the first arrest in July 2002.Arrest Warrants were issued against R.K.Sharma on 3rd August

2002,but he was at large. He surrendered to the police on 27th September 2002 in Ambala.
Since then the case was going on,during which out of the 209 witnesses 51 turned hostile that

included some key witnesses.
But finally after 9 years the court gave its verdict and R.K.sharma was found guilty.Along with

him three more accused Pradeep Sharma, Satya Prakash and Sri Bhagwan were found guilty.The

quantum of the sentence will be pronounced by Judge Rajendra Kumar Shastri on 24th March.
It will be either Life Sentence or Death Penalty.
The case even saw the name of big BJP leaders coming in it, when Madhu Sharma,wife of R.K.Sharma

accused the then Information Technology minister Pramod Mahajan of having involvement in

Shivani's murder and implicationg her husband.

But at the end of the day we all know who did this unscrupulous crime.
A guilty verdict against former IPS official in the murder case has strengthened the recent trend

of conviction in high-profile cases sending a clear message that the rich and influential can no

longer get away with crime.The fact that the accused was successful in evading his arrest for

more than three years after the murder shows his influence on the police.But at the end he was

found guilty.
For some time now we have seen many high profile cases involving many big names getting justice.
The trend was set when Manu Sharma was found guilty in Jessica Lal murder case.The Jessica case

acquittals shook the public conscience to the core. It brought into sharp focus a number of

issues ailing our legal system and people realized how easy it was for the rich and powerful to

get away with anything. The outpour of outrage was spontaneous. For the first time the nation

witnessed the middle class involving itself in the process of getting justice for an individual.
And then Priyadarshini Mattoo murder case was solved.Also we cant forget the "UPHAAR" tragedy

when relatives of the decieased also got justice when court found Ansal Brothers guilty of

negligence.

So what we can say that after so long since we have our judiciary system, the time has come when

how so be the big name,reputation or money you have,you cant get away just like that after doing

smething wrong.There is very clear message to the criminals "NOBODY CAN GO UNPUNISHED THESE DAYS"