The long wait for justice came to an end. But, going by the expressions of family members of both the victim and the accused, it didn't seem worth it.
While Shivakumar pleaded his innocence, yet again, as the police dragged him out of the court, his wife hurled abuse at those whom she claimed framed her husband.
For the first time since the case came up Shivakumar's family — including his wife and son — were present in court to support him. A few villagers also joined the family as a token of strength. Pratibha's mother, Gowramma, however, missed hearing the judgment, on this crucial day.
"Is this justice?" She asked strangers who surrounded her on the court campus, her eyes void of tears. Sitting on a stone bench at the court, Gowramma fiddled with the photographs and the greeting cards her daughter had once sent her after the wedding. After losing her daughter, all she is left with are the memories and photographs.
"Judgments will come and go, but justice?" She asked after a pause, "Is this justice? He will remain in prison for few years. Then he will use political or financial power to get out and target other women for his lust."
As the tragic day flooded her memory, an emotionally drained Gowramma said, "My child would have pleaded and struggled when this man was satisfying his lust. Didn't he realise the pain that day. Today, when he has been sentenced to life, he is feeling sorry for his wife, child and parents. What about me? I don't have anything to live for now."
She wished: "Only if he rots in jail and dies there, it will be fine, but that won’t happen. The inmates will be released after few years and target women yet again."
Gowramma lost her husband when Pratibha was a 15-day-old baby, and single handedly raised the child. "At 12 years I put my daughter into a crèche, although kids of her age were not sent there. I knew society was cruel, and kept her protected and did everything. After her marriage I thought her husband would take care of her and I could die in peace, but that didn't happen."
Pointing at the greeting card and remembering her deceased daughter, she said between sobs, "She wished me all the happiness in the world."
"Her husband's and in-laws’ carelessness cost me my daughter. Not just the driver, even Pratibha's husband and their family are responsible for her death and god will punish them."
"Sending her on a night shift was not inevitable for sure, and that was the mistake they committed," Gowramma said, "Just money mattered to them, not my daughter's life." After the outburst, in a bid to console herself, she added, "I can scream and get angry here. Once I get back home, who will I scream at? I am left with my loneliness."
“I am extremely disappointed with the judgment," said S Srinivas, Pratibha's uncle, "When lower courts are pronouncing death sentences, then why this sort of judgment?" he asked.
"The accused in young and will come out using influence," he worried and felt that the "judgment is amateurish. It should certainly have been a death penalty. This case was not just for Pratibha, but for every woman who works and has the need to come out of their house for a living. This judgment will send a wrong message to society and women will continue to be targets”.
A new face was spotted in the court, besides Gowramma, lending support on judgment day. Shriram Ashwathanarayana, a medico from Mysore and Pratibha's cousin, he said, "I was on vacation and came to Bangalore and accompanied my aunt."
Expressing his unhappiness over the judgment, he said, "Life sentence is not acceptable and I do not know if a life sentence till death literally means that." Unable to hold his emotions, Shriram also broke down after the judgment.
Shriram has started a facebook page called ‘Justice for Pratibha’, as he felt that there was hardly anything done to remember Pratibha. He said, "Bangalore's cosmopolitan image can be justified only when justice is done in Pratibha's case."
