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UNLAWFUL YOUTH.........
Programme: Crime File Telecast: 10:30 pm, Saturday, November 01, 2003 Repeat: 4:30 pm, Wednesday, November 05, 2003 Report: Rahul Agarwal
Programme: Crime File
Telecast: 10:30 pm, Saturday, November 01, 2003
Repeat: 4:30 pm, Wednesday, November 05, 2003
Report: Rahul Agarwal Celebrity crimes hog the headlines for a while and then disappear, just like the victim and the perpetrator. Designer labels, society babes, banging dance tunes , cocktails and class-A drugs ... India 's young rich are not alone in succumbing to such hedonism. But when four young men from Mumbai's elite society are caught in a drug racket in a foreign land, the news is bound to stay in headlines for quite some time. The sensational case involves Abu Farhan, son of the Samajwadi Party MP, Abu Azmi, Bonie Chabria, son of automobile pioneer Dilip Chabria and two others, reportedly Prashant Dandekar and Shan Sippy, grandson of film maker G P Sippy. The four are believed to have been detained on October 21, but reports about it began to float into Mumbai only on Monday. Mr. Abu Azmi, confirmed that his son had been detained for inquiries because a cigarette containing charas was found with one of the four. "My son is not a smoker. I do not know two of them, but Shan is a friend of Abu Farhan," Mr. Azmi said. "We got a call from our son from Dubai only a couple of days ago. We believe in the moral law and if he is involved in any wrong-doing, then I will not help my son," he added. Over the years, a large number of celebrity sons or relatives have been found involved in criminal activities, perhaps because of their upbringing. They are brought up to believe that they are above the law...daddy or uncleji or chacha will bail them out with either clout or money, sometimes both, if they happened to get caught. The list is very long, but some of the prominent cases of celebrity crimes that come to mind include, Nitish Katara, the executive allegedly murdered by a Uttar Pradesh politician`s son because he was romantically involved with his sister; the rape and murder of law student Priyadarshini Mattoo; the killing — in front of a roomful of eye witnesses — of model Jessica Lal ; the gruesome Tandoor murder ... Then there is the BMW hit and run case where the son of a retired Navy Admiral ran into and killed a number of policemen on duty but was given the freedom to study in the United States; the Puru Rajkumar case in Mumbai where the actor Rajkumar`s son ran over and killed several slum dwellers and got away with a light fine. One such case that is etched in the nation`s mind is the sensational murder of badminton champion Syed Modi, whose alleged killer was not only set free because of insufficient evidence but married Modi`s widow and became a minister. And now, hot off the presses, the Gulshan Kumar murder in which 18 of the 19 accused have been let off for lack of evidence. What the judge said on freeing the accused in the Priyadarshini Mattoo case sums up the whole sorry state of affairs. "Though I know," he said, "the defendant is guilty, my hands are tied. As a judge, I can only go by the evidence provided by the investigating agencies." The Mattoo case was in Delhi; the Gulshan Kumar case in Mumbai. Two distinct investigating agencies in two of the biggest and most developed cities. The end result is the same. A rapist cum murderer walks free in one case; in the other, the hired gun gets caught and convicted. The people who hired him, however, will live happily ever after. Today, the enforcement of civil and legitimate business norms and behaviour is seen as foolish business practice. The authority has become so utterly debased that to live a straightforward and decent life has become impossible. To bribe one`s way through has become the law of the land. When events get totally out of control with shootouts and suchlike, the civil authority begins to react, more often than not, in a knee jerk fashion. Ban booze, close down eating joints, stop all further licences and the likes. The solution is not to ban bars and late night restaurants, but to enforce the law and protect the citizen. After all, people the world over wander about eating and drinking in their cities through daylight and darkness. How are we any different and why should we not have our share of good healthy fun. Today, if the rot has to be stemmed, it has to begin with the administration and politicians . Officers who turn a blind eye to those who are breaking the law must be suspended. The cleansing has to start from the authority first. Recent events in country have been hair raising. What has been exposed is the wide range of illegalities and criminality which nurture each other. Like the underworld has its own special code of conduct, so do those who prop each other up when consciously indulging in illegitimate activities motivated by indescribable greed. And, to what end.
Telecast: 10:30 pm, Saturday, November 01, 2003
Repeat: 4:30 pm, Wednesday, November 05, 2003
Report: Rahul Agarwal Celebrity crimes hog the headlines for a while and then disappear, just like the victim and the perpetrator. Designer labels, society babes, banging dance tunes , cocktails and class-A drugs ... India 's young rich are not alone in succumbing to such hedonism. But when four young men from Mumbai's elite society are caught in a drug racket in a foreign land, the news is bound to stay in headlines for quite some time. The sensational case involves Abu Farhan, son of the Samajwadi Party MP, Abu Azmi, Bonie Chabria, son of automobile pioneer Dilip Chabria and two others, reportedly Prashant Dandekar and Shan Sippy, grandson of film maker G P Sippy. The four are believed to have been detained on October 21, but reports about it began to float into Mumbai only on Monday. Mr. Abu Azmi, confirmed that his son had been detained for inquiries because a cigarette containing charas was found with one of the four. "My son is not a smoker. I do not know two of them, but Shan is a friend of Abu Farhan," Mr. Azmi said. "We got a call from our son from Dubai only a couple of days ago. We believe in the moral law and if he is involved in any wrong-doing, then I will not help my son," he added. Over the years, a large number of celebrity sons or relatives have been found involved in criminal activities, perhaps because of their upbringing. They are brought up to believe that they are above the law...daddy or uncleji or chacha will bail them out with either clout or money, sometimes both, if they happened to get caught. The list is very long, but some of the prominent cases of celebrity crimes that come to mind include, Nitish Katara, the executive allegedly murdered by a Uttar Pradesh politician`s son because he was romantically involved with his sister; the rape and murder of law student Priyadarshini Mattoo; the killing — in front of a roomful of eye witnesses — of model Jessica Lal ; the gruesome Tandoor murder ... Then there is the BMW hit and run case where the son of a retired Navy Admiral ran into and killed a number of policemen on duty but was given the freedom to study in the United States; the Puru Rajkumar case in Mumbai where the actor Rajkumar`s son ran over and killed several slum dwellers and got away with a light fine. One such case that is etched in the nation`s mind is the sensational murder of badminton champion Syed Modi, whose alleged killer was not only set free because of insufficient evidence but married Modi`s widow and became a minister. And now, hot off the presses, the Gulshan Kumar murder in which 18 of the 19 accused have been let off for lack of evidence. What the judge said on freeing the accused in the Priyadarshini Mattoo case sums up the whole sorry state of affairs. "Though I know," he said, "the defendant is guilty, my hands are tied. As a judge, I can only go by the evidence provided by the investigating agencies." The Mattoo case was in Delhi; the Gulshan Kumar case in Mumbai. Two distinct investigating agencies in two of the biggest and most developed cities. The end result is the same. A rapist cum murderer walks free in one case; in the other, the hired gun gets caught and convicted. The people who hired him, however, will live happily ever after. Today, the enforcement of civil and legitimate business norms and behaviour is seen as foolish business practice. The authority has become so utterly debased that to live a straightforward and decent life has become impossible. To bribe one`s way through has become the law of the land. When events get totally out of control with shootouts and suchlike, the civil authority begins to react, more often than not, in a knee jerk fashion. Ban booze, close down eating joints, stop all further licences and the likes. The solution is not to ban bars and late night restaurants, but to enforce the law and protect the citizen. After all, people the world over wander about eating and drinking in their cities through daylight and darkness. How are we any different and why should we not have our share of good healthy fun. Today, if the rot has to be stemmed, it has to begin with the administration and politicians . Officers who turn a blind eye to those who are breaking the law must be suspended. The cleansing has to start from the authority first. Recent events in country have been hair raising. What has been exposed is the wide range of illegalities and criminality which nurture each other. Like the underworld has its own special code of conduct, so do those who prop each other up when consciously indulging in illegitimate activities motivated by indescribable greed. And, to what end.