The Nithari murders: Why is justice being delayed?

It has been over two years. And all that we get in the Nithari killings case is one conviction where the suave and educated feudal lord of NOIDA raped, murdered, dismembered and put the parts of a 14-year-old girl in a drain inside his farmhouse. Moninder Singh Pandher is a pervert. Do the parents of the other kids have to wait for another so many years each?

There are several such cases committed by this sick man; skeletons were found in the drains in his house. His accomplice was his servant, Surinder Koli. In the present case he has been convicted for attempted rape instead of rape. He was known to be a necrophiliac and used the bodies after his master was done with them and dumped them cruelly with his help. At that time the media used to give graphic accounts about making human flesh kebabs.

If they are through with the repast, they should now push the courts to act. What the hell is one conviction? The man is powerful and in NOIDA, which even Uttar Pradesh treats like the back of beyond, you can sense that it would be easy for such men to do as they please.

Politicians can stay out of this as they have done in these past so many months. They don’t have to wake up and make electoral capital of it. But the police and human rights organisations must insist. And TV channels who were walking around with cameras and microphones then should now insist on the fast-track justice they demanded for other high-powered cases.

The victims here are unfortunately poor and unknown villagers and the only reason it caught the national media eye was due to the sheer voyeuristic delight it offered. Now, instead of those details, they can concentrate on getting serious panels made up of legal brains to expose this case.

The master and the servant had a convenient alliance, each a power play. Both need to be given the most stringent punishment, without delay. What more evidence is required? There is something called precedence, which the courts have convicted him of. They can clearly see the pattern.

I am against capital punishment, and castration is silly. Besides being put in solitary confinement and made to do hard labour for the rest of their lives, Pandher will have to provide for all the families of the girls he raped and killed. And unfortunate as it may sound, his son – although in no way involved and probably ignorant of his father’s actions – will have to continue to bear the expenses of providing for them should the father run out of resources. I say this because the son was in court. People like the senior Pandher are not fit enough to have any support system or families.

They debilitate society. It isn’t a question of making him into an example, but baring the face of this prime example before it is too late and others think they can get away with it. We have suffered enough and worse goes on in the interiors and rural areas. Time to start somewhere. And now.

- - -

Updated on Feb 16:

Nithari killings put to shame even pre-civilisation era: Judge (Report from The Hindu)

Ghaziabad (PTI): Following are the highlights of the 59-page judgment delivered by Judge Rama Jain while sentencing businessman Moninder Singh Pandher and his servant Surinder Koli to death in connection with the rape and murder of 14-year-old girl Rimpa Haldar.

"In the said case, a helpless, poor girl has been raped by the two accused who resorted to extremely barbaric, inhuman and unkind act which has no precedence. The manner in which the horrendous act has been carried out even puts the era into shame when there was no civilisation."

This crime is against womanhood and a blot on society. The manner in which the crime has been done, death sentence can be the only justice because there was not an iota of sign that their character will change in the future.

Rejecting the CBI's contention of Pandher being away in Australia when the crime was committed, the Judge said the investigating officer of the agency cannot derive a conclusion on the basis of his passport and the immigration stamp affixed on the travel document.

The recovery of the saw, which was used to chop bodies, when Pandher and Koli were taken to Nithari house was a convincing proof that the businessman was also involved.