In a landmark ruling, the Lakhimpur Kheri Session Court on Monday awarded the death penalty to Pawan Kumar, alias Monu Mittal, in the case of the murder of Manjunath Shanmugham. The other seven have been sentenced to life in prison for conspiracy to murder. Manjunath was working as a sales officer at Indian Oil Corporation when he was shot and killed on November 19, 2005. The sales manager for the Indian oil corporation had challenged Mittal about the adulteration of fuel in his pump and was about to fine him. It was then that Mittal and his colleagues shot Manjunath and then hid his body. “Justice has been served. This is what we expected,” said IB Singh, a lawyer for the Manjunath Shanmugam Trust.
Manjunath was assassinated on November 19, 2005 for adhering to his principles. His shocked death sent cripples across the country. All the IIML students stood up to fight for him. If it weren’t for the dedication of these Lords, the Manjunath case would have been another example of the inability of our justice department. This morning, one of his friends and the main person behind Manjunath Shanmugam Trust, Mr. Akhil Krishna, was online in Radio City. I was surprised to hear that they made sure any of them were present in court at every hearing. Lakhimpur Kheri, is about 135 km from Lucknow and to make sure one of them was present on the court he does take some inspiration. When Mr. Krishna was asked what inspired him and his friend to take up such a fight, the unconscious answer was “The man named Macha – Manjunath Shanmugam”. When I first found out, my initial reaction was “Ok, they did it for your friend, even I would have done it.” But thinking, saying and dreaming is one thing and doing it is different. Had it not been for them and their efforts, Manjunath’s death would have been one of the most embarrassing events in this country.
The response to his death and the fight for justice across the country, reminds us of the fact that we all yearn for heroes like him. It was the unanimous solidarity of his Friends, the Media and the People of this country, which made his sacrifice not go unnoticed. His friends created a trust in his memory: “The Manjunath Shanmugam Trust.” They plan to fight for justice for all citizens of this country who fight against corruption or similar causes. They have established a “Right to Information Act Helpline” to help the general public about the RTI law. The helpline number is 9250400100. They have also established “The Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity Award” and the first recipient was Prof. RP Singh, Vice Chancellor of Lucknow University, for his courageous work in implementing the recommendations. of the Lyngdoh Committee and the cleaning of Lucknow University, assuming power of the entire state assembly.
The most ambitious fact of this trial is that the whole process was completed in 9 months, which could be a record of the Indian department of justice on its own. But there are some consequences if we analyze the matter carefully. The entire trial was conducted correctly due to pressure from the media and the public on this case. If you look at the two landmark sentences of recent times – “The Jessica Lal Murder Case” and “The Manjunath Shanmugam Case”, both cases were haunted by the public and the media – more importantly, the intervention of the electronic media made it a success. But is this a good trend? Electronic media tend to serve a very select class of audience, so almost all the issues raised have to do with that class of people. This has the consequences that “Justice will only be served to the privileged” or the poor of this country will not benefit from the new age activism that is sweeping the country. Now comes the million dollar question “What is the solution to this problem?”, The answer again is foreign – “The system needs to change”, but how? In my humble opinion, we need to hold the Department of Law and Justice accountable for what they are doing. Accountability will bring big changes to the way officials in these two departments work. Think about this if there is a provision to prosecute a police officer for neglecting his duty (thus helping the culprit), the corruption in these two departments will be reduced. For example, in the Jessica Lal murder trial, in the recent sentencing, the court noted its surprise that the trial court acquitted the culprit even though there was ample evidence to prosecute him. If the judge were responsible for the judgments he makes, this would never have happened. Now the most important question: “How bad can we take this responsibility to these departments?” The answer is that I have no idea, in this I am as clueless as those who are reading this article. this is where we can have a discussion on. You can suggest your ideas in the comment box.
Always remember that treating a disease is expensive, but preventing disease is wisdom. Let the soul of Manjunath give us the will to fight to make this country a better place to live. Signing with this song …..