The Guilty Vain

It was the Beautiful People who were serving illicit liquor in order to make a fast buck, it was the Beautiful People who were routinely bribing the police to avoid getting a bona fide liquor licence, it was the Beautiful People who erased and mutilated crucial evidence of the crime, it was the Beautiful People—in a coincidence I find remarkable—who left the restaurant "minutes" before the murder or were "looking the other way" when the bullets were fired, it was the Beautiful People who contradicted firm, clear statements to the police about what they saw and what they heard, it was the Beautiful People who ran away from Delhi to avoid further police interrogation. I am privileged to know one or two Beautiful People, but their posturing has been exposed. Alas, because they are the Beautiful People it is unlikely that anyone will press them to answer tough questions on TV. I believe this is also perversion of justice.

While I salute the media, especially the print media, for keeping the focus on the miscarriage of justice, our news channels are guilty of turning this unspeakable human tragedy into a second-rate Bollywood tear-jerker. The Jessica story has so much emotional ballast that there is no need to manipulate images and freeze-frame moist eyes for "impact". Having said that, the outcry over the verdict is an undeniable media triumph.