With the awarding of 10 years imprisonment to former navy officer Emile Jerome and three years to Kannada actress Maria Susairaj in the sensational Neeraj Grover murder case, legal eagles have once again raised doubts over the way prosecution agencies work.
Noted criminal lawyer KTS Tulsi said, “This case is no less infamous than the Tandoor murder case, where Sushil Sharma the main accused, was sentenced to death for brutally killing his wife and then disposing of her body in a tandoor. The Neeraj Grover case is also on the same lines.
“I don't understand why the court has taken a different view on this issue. Another reason for the court taking this stand is the lack of supporting evidence. Prima facie it seems that the prosecution has failed to establish the missing links in the story and this is where lacunae by the court was found.”
Naina Sahni was the victim of Tandoor murder case. She was killed by her husband Sushil Sharma, a congress youth leader MLA. Naina herself was a Congress worker.
Three years after Neeraj Grover was killed and his body hacked into pieces and disposed of in a forest in adjoining Thane, the court had absolved Maria and Jerome of murder charges after holding them guilty of lesser offences.
Jerome was convicted on the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under section 304 (part I) IPC. Both he and Maria were also found guilty of trying to destroy evidence under section 201 IPC.
Since Maria has already served more than three years in prison, she can now walk free.
Criminal lawyer Ramesh Gupta said, “Any amount of good investigation would not result in success unless the institution of prosecution has persons who are of merit and who are committed with foundation of a well structured professional training. This part has been weak and somewhat neglected. Its recruitment, training and professionalism need special attention so as to make it synergetic with other institutions and effective in delivering good results.
"In this case for lesser punishment, it is the prosecution who is responsible. Had the weaving of facts been correct, the court would not have given this punishment," Gupta added.
Even the government has earlier mooted the idea of an independent directorate of prosecution so that such cases don't fall flat.
Joginder Singh, former CBI chief, said, “Until and unless our prosecution is strong we will not able to achieve high rate of conviction in these brutal cases. We suffer because of bad probe and then bad presentation in the court. This trend will lead us nowhere but to easy let off for criminals.”
