Nobody should take anybody’s life unless they are prepared to pay for it with their own. That’s what I thought when two gruesome murders in the second half of June left us shocked and reeling in disbelief. One was a chillingly calculated conspiracy; the other, a tragic consequence of sudden, explosive anger. Both hold up a mirror to the darkest corners of human nature. More disturbingly, they expose a terrifying reality – the near-zero value some of us assign to the lives of others in moments of rage or passion.
At Lohagarh Fort in Pune, 20-year-old Siya Goyal tried vainly to disguise the cold-blooded, pre-planned murder of her fiancé, realtor Ketan Agarwal (26), by her alleged lover, Chetan Chaudhary, as a trekking accident that went horrifyingly wrong. In Mumbai, train commuter Roshan Suvarna (30) stabbed 22-year-old Mayank Lohar brutally to death on a crowded local after a heated argument between them over closing the door against heavy rain spiraled into violence.
The true horror of both crimes lies not only in the murders themselves, but also in the collateral damage they leave behind – the complete, irreversible devastation of two sets of families in each case. The victims’ families, buried under sudden and insurmountable grief, their worlds shattered forever. And right beside them is the quiet ruin of the killers’ families, condemned to carry a legacy of shame, guilt and broken dreams. A single act of violence creates a black hole that swallows multiple innocent lives.
But murder cannot be a momentary act of anger. Two lives have been unnecessarily and remorselessly taken. In my book, the consequences, too, must be absolute. Sadly, in our country, even expedited trials test human endurance. Remember it took an arduous and protracted judicial proceedings of eight years to hang the four hardened rapist-killers of Nirbhaya? And four tenacious years to ensure the process for the mocking 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab despite overwhelming evidence and eye-witness accounts?
Heartbroken, the families of Ketan and Mayank want death for their sons’ inhuman killers. Some even speak of police encounters. Such cries are born understandably of unimaginable sorrow and all-consuming rage. But justice, however agonizingly slow, must remain justice. We are not an eye for an eye society. Yet if we truly believe that human life is sacred and absolute, then anyone who consciously and deliberately takes another’s life must be prepared to face the gravest punishment of the law and pay for it with their own.
About Mark Manuel
The above thoughts/content has been proudly copied from the wall of Sir Mark Manuel. Being interviewing almost every role model of this country and going stronger each day. Mark Manuel is a respected Mumbai editor, writer, and columnist.
With over three decades of journalism in leading publications. This includes the Free Press Journal, Times, Dainik Bhaskar, Mid-Day, and Afternoon. He is famous for his brilliant pen interviews. He himself is a TEDx speaker.
Further
His interviews have featured in several leading media houses. They include the Hindustan Times, Huffington Post, BBC, and Network 18. Almost every famous person has been interviewed by him in the country from Mother Teresa to Muhammad Ali. His first book is just out. It’s titled Moryaa Re! It is a crime thriller that is perhaps the country’s first police procedural. He began his career covering crime. And in a tribute to his experience and knowledge of this beat.
Several distinguished officers of the Mumbai Police and its Crime Branch collaborated with him to make this book possible. Amitabh Bachchan wrote the forward in a statement of friendship for Mark Manuel and admiration for his work.
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