Apologies, Ms.Gadkar

Where do I begin? Maybe congratulate you first? For whatever it is that you were celebrating that night. It must've been really huge, coz you chose to drink whisky instead of your regular beer. Only a fool would not want to gulp down his success with a drink which would numb his senses. And it would take a bigger fool to not desire taking control of an SUV on the roads of a city such as Mumbai, in a zombied passed out state.
Damn that nap (which you claim you took) on Marine Drive, which wasn't effective enough to sober down the effects of the whisky, who cares if the intake was three times above the permissible limit! Let's move on, shall we.



Once you were all freshened up and geared up for zooming your Audi, you took control. Of course. Now come on, racing an SUV past midnight on comparatively quieter roads of the metropolis, who would let go of such an opportunity! We've already established that people who do not empathise with this are fools, so let's not get into name calling again.

Okay, so where were we? Zooming the Audi. So you zoomed and zoomed until you reached Panjarpol, or was it RK Studios? Oops, you do not remember, I apologise. So somewhere here or far, on the freeway, you took the wrong lane and you were merrily driving away until a naive taxi driver actually had the nerve to drive in the right direction and head towards you. Can you believe that man! How could he not have been watchful of the streets for self-centred, sloshed drivers! How could he not guard himself and his passengers against affluent influential car owners! Did he not know that the roads are a property of such individuals, who can do as they please and get away with it; that the common man's life is petty and has no value! Had he not updated himself with Salman Khan's hit-and-run case, where the eye witness rotted in the hospital, his driver took the blame upon himself and the 2002 court case still goes on endlessly? It's not a Bollywood movie you know, where the public prosecutor will yell 'taarikh pe taarikh', and the affected party will get justice. How silly!

Your Defence lawyer has argued that if you were that intoxicated, there was no way you could've given a statement. So what if you felt the need to sleep for six hours at the police station before recording it? An overburdened professional who has been busy partying and networking, is going to catch her beauty sleep wherever she can, won't she? Pardon the police and media and the common man for thinking and believing otherwise.

Okay, enough. I haven't said something that you don't already know. The less said the better Ms Gadkar. You would wish so. But what's the use of the social media's outreach if it can't help in voicing opinions for demanding justice? You are a lawyer and apparently a successful one, so says your CV and the car at your doorstep. You would've already used every trick of the game to save your skin. You reportedly very shamelessly started off at the very accident spot by offering bribe. Anyways, you will do what it takes to get out of this. You may have big stalwarts to back you up. After all, you scratch mine I scratch yours, isn't it?

Your mother has requested the media to treat this like an accident. She's a mother, she would fight till the end to protect her daughter. I sympathise with her, with your family. But not with YOU. Driving in a drunken inappropriate state was a conscious decision taken by YOU. If it was just you who would have to bear the brunt of that choice, it was alright. But making innocent unrelated souls pay a price for your snobbery is not excusable, at any cost.

Though I sincerely hope like everybody else, that the Sayyeds and the Sabuwalas get justice, I do not know what might happen and when it might happen. But in addition to the sentence that would be levied to Ms Gadkar, I genuinely believe that the families should be financially compensated.

I can totally understand how hurtful it would get for the family who's suffering, to be offered compensation for the loss of a dear one. Nothing in the world can make up for that. But all said and done, those who are left behind have no choice but to gear themselves up for treading on the difficult roads ahead. And if the dear one, God forbid, is the only bread winner in the family, getting an amount from the miscreant should be the right of the affected family.

Compensating the family in such negligent accidents should be made compulsory. Not to absolve the doer of his deeds, but to add to his punishment and woes. Decisions can be taken on a case to case basis but there needs to be objectivity. Of some sort.
So Ms Gadkar, do a quick check of your bank account online, if you haven't already.


PS. I have refrained from the use of the word 'victim', I shall use it if the Indian legal system fails to give the families due justice, and in good time.