The four men who murdered Keenan Santos and Reuben Fernandez nearly five years ago have been sentenced to the rest of their lives in jail by the sessions court in Mumbai. The grieving families of the two friends can now have some closure. The incident had made headlines all over the world when the two young men were brutally murdered for trying to protect their female friends from thugs who tried to attack them. At the time, cyberspace had erupted in anger and in support of the two young men; the incident has many lessons for us all.
Keenan and Reuben stood up against molesters
The incident took place outside a bar in Amboli, a Mumbai suburb: a group of men misbehaved with women who accompanied Keenan and Reuben. When the two men resisted, the thugs attacked them.
The attackers returned with ten more people and weapons
Keenan and Reuben were attacked with knives and lathis and were stabbed repeatedly. The thugs proceeded to kill Keenan and fatally injured Reuben who succumbed to his injuries later.
No one did anything to help
Apart from the horrifying nature of the crime, the most disheartening aspect was that no one came forward to help the two men. Onlookers saw the whole thing but did not intervene because they feared for themselves or simply didn’t want to get involved. The residents of the area still say that there is nothing they could have done in the matter.
Jitendra Rana, Sunil Bodh, Satish Dulgaj and Dipak Tival sentenced to life in prison
The families of the two murdered young men had been fighting for justice these past four years. Keenan’s father Valerian Santos, said that while he did not hope for capital punishment, seeing this is not the rarest of rare cases, he is satisfied with the verdict and hopes that the four men will go through life thinking about that they did to Keenan and Reuben and to their families.
Justice in five years
India’s judiciary is known for its plodding, leaden pace and the Guilty verdict within less than five years is actually a reason for rejoicing. Not only has justice been done, it has been done in a reasonable amount of time.
Safety of women in public places remains unresolved
The case once again reminds us of the problems that persist in our society: lack of safety for women in public and now in their homes (as the horrific recent brutal rape and murder of Jisha in Kerala highlights), the misogynistic mindset of men that excuses misbehavior with women, victim shaming and the high rate of crimes against women.
Author – Reena Daruwalla
