It was just another day in the crime capital of India in 1999, when Jessica Lal was shot dead in a restaurant crowded with Delhi's air-kissing brigade. In 2006, when the accused, the son of a former minister, was acquitted, it was not just another judgment.
A wave of indignation spread across a country fresh from Rang De Basanti. Articles, SMS campaigns, online petitions, candlelight vigils created the pressure hitherto missing on a police team with a reputation for handling the rich and the powerful with kid gloves.
A fresh case was filed. And the Delhi high court awarded Manu Sharma life imprisonment, and two of his friends -- Vikas Yadav and Amardeep Singh Gill -- four years in jail.
There are many Jessicas in the real India. Will it take a nation's indignation to get justice for all of them?
What made you angry in 2006? Tell us!
Image: Protesters light candles around a photograph of Jessica Lal during a protest at India Gate, New Delhi, March 4, 2006.
Photograph: Manpreet Romana/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: The Jessica Lal murder case
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