Atlast Justice been Served – ‘Nitish Katara Murder case’

I am not sure if any of you are aware of this famous case until you are from Delhi. This ghastly incident happened just before my marriage in Feb 2002. I was deeply moved with the plight of Nitish Katara’s mother, Neelam, who fought for the case indefinitely. I used to read and absorb every bit of the news relating to the case and somewhere deep in my heart used to pray that justice should be served.

For those who don’t know about the case, here is the gist-
Nitish Katara, 24yr old business executive, son of an IAS officer was in love with Bharati Yadav, the daughter of famous Uttar Pradesh politician D.P.Yadav. D.P.Yadav himself was involved in many criminal cases. As a perfect bollywood movie story, D.P.Yadav’s family was not happy with the relationship of Nitish and Bharati and threatened Nitish with dire consequences in past. On the fateful day 17th Feb 2002, Nitish and Bharati attended a common friend’s wedding. Bharati’s brother Vikas and his cousin were also present at the wedding. They took Nitish from there for a ride never to return back home! The following morning his body was found on a highway battered and burnt to death. Soon after the murder, Bharati Yadav was sent to U.K for further studies. Bharati’s brothers were soon abducted but case went on till now and they were not found guilty till few days back. In between Bharati Yadav had to come to India, because of some legal visa formalities and hence she had to be present in court for the Nitish Katara murder case testimony. There was a huge media hype and thankfully media supported Nitish Katara’s mother who was fighting for justice. When Bharati Yadav was questioned in the court about her love affair with Nitish, she simply denied of any relationship and said they were just very good friends. Apparently the lawyer standing for Yadav’s requested Nitish’s mother to sit in back rows of the court during Bharati’s testimony!!! Media went ballistic about this whole issue and I couldn’t agree less. It’s said that Bharati Yadav went into lot of pressure from her family to give a false testimony. Inspired by ‘Rang De Basanti’ movie, there were silent candle light morchas too at India Gate for justice for this case as well as another famous Jessica Lal murder case.

There are many famous pending cases in Supreme court and High Courts of India, which have been running on since years. Many including me never had faith on the Indian Judiciary system. But lately there have been some pleasant verdicts from the Indian courts. In the past, Santosh Kumar Singh who was found guilty in famous Priyadarshan Mattoo murder case was given a death sentence by High Court of Delhi. Now in this Nitish Katara murder case too, Vikas Yadav and his cousin have been found guilty at last on 28th of May 2008 and will be soon given their punishment which could be either life-term imprisonment or death sentence. Mr D.P.Yadav’s political life has also been said to be dwindling. Better late than never, I have started seeing some hope and realized that truth indeed wins.