Not that the Kannada actress has really had a chance to tell her side of the story. At the press conference after her release on Saturday, she tried to invoke God to say she was innocent, but was shouted down by protesters who wanted her hanged.
The frenzy is scaring less excited observers. What if, as in the Strauss-Kahn case, the police, the media and the citizenry end up crucifying someone who may later turn out innocent? The IMF chief lost his job after a hotel maid accused him of rape. It now turns out she was a hooker trying to blackmail him. Strauss-Kahn's chances of becoming president of France now lie in ruins. His IMF position has been filled by someone else.
Parents of Neeraj Grover, who her fiance Emile Jerome has been convicted of killing, think Maria has had a picnic in prison for three years, and should now be sent for some serious correction. They lost a son in scandalous circumstances, and the woman who they think plotted it all is now walking free. Neeraj's mother has been asking some hard questions.
Ram Gopal Verma wants to offer Maria a role in his next film, furthering the impression that life for her is turning out a fun roller-coaster ride. However, the Shiv Sena and the Maharasthra Navnirmal Sena, which fancy themselves as the moral police, have warned of reprisals if Maria is cast in any film or TV show. Two men, including a mattress dealer who unwittingly helped her, say she was composedas she went about destroying evidence. They are among those who want more stringent punishment for her.
He has already served three years, and will remain behind bars for seven years more, unless higher courts decide otherwise. The punishment, some say, is not enough for someone who stabbed Neeraj, raped Maria, and then chopped up the corpse for disposal in a suitcase.
Maria has also served three years in prison, and the judge has awarded her three years for destruction of evidence. She is therefore out.
Nalin Mehta writes in Mumbai Mirror: "The Susairaj case has engulfed our TV screens with what can only be called the sanctimonious righteousness of a lynch mob. You may or may not agree with the judgment in what was a horrific murder by any definition but news television should be reporting the facts and providing informed analysis, not leading a Klu-Klux style vigilante squad, as most networks seem to be doing. It's simply not their job."
First Post believes newspapers and television channels have gone berserk, instigating mob justice:"Having been conditioned by the statements of the prosecutors and the investigating authorities, we, readers and citizens, decided that Susairaj was guilt of murder and any judgment that said different was one that was a travesty."
In some of her movie stills, Maria looks a bit like Marilyn Monroe with her curly tresses. In less flattering pictures (like the one you saw on our front page), she looks like a regular girl out of college. But then, as things have turned out, she has lost her innocence in her pursuit of fame. It has led her along a bloody, gruesome route.
Is this a Shakespearean tragedy playing out in our times? Is Maria the 2011 equivalent of Lady Macbeth, who invited the king over and then instigated her husband to murder him so that he could usurp the throne? What motive could Maria have had in calling Jerome over to kill Neeraj? Was she intimate with Neeraj, as some reports suggest, or was there a casting couch angle?
And if she did indeed spur Jerome to kill Neeraj, what torments will she face? A tearful Maria has already visited a church and a temple. Literature, not to speak of the karma theory, tells us that the connection between crime and punishment is complex, and may not always be apparent. Lady Macbeth spends the rest of her life obsessively trying to wash her hands of imaginary blood stains. After his crime in Mumbai, according to a book that Harper Collins is planning, Jerome became more religious, waking up every morning at 4.30 am to read the Bible.
Public prosecutor Kini has already announced he will go in appeal against the verdict. Maria is now back with her family in Mysore. From all accounts, she wants to avoid the media glare. She may not turn out to be a Rahul Mahajan, hungry for reality show action. But then, who knows?
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