Mumbai: Weeks after the sessions court convicted 26-year-old Wadala resident Shree Jogdhankar and acquitted 24-year-old Diya Padalkar in the sensational murder of 19-year-old Khar resident Jhanvi Kukreja in 2021 at Bhagwati Heights, 14th Road, Khar (W), Nidhi Kukreja (48), Jhanvi’s mother, says complete justice has not been done. On December 31, 2020, Jhanvi had gone to a New Year's Eve party with her immediate neighbor and childhood friend Doya Padalkar and Shree Jogdhankar, with whom she was in a relationship. The party was organized by Kukreja’s friend Yash Ahuja on the terrace of Bhagwati Heights where he lived.
As per the prosecution's case, Jhanvi was upset over Jogdhankar's
close proximity with Diya at the party. The police claimed the three had a fight. Around 1:45 am, when Jhanvi moved towards the staircase to speak to a friend on her mobile, Jogdhankar and Padalkar followed her. The three had a scuffle during which Shree brutally attacked Jhanvi all the way down to the second floor from where he pushed her down to the ground floor. Shree left the building leaving a dying Jhanvi while Diya went to the house of Ahuja to clean herself.
The court held Jogdhankar guilty of murder, but awarded him only life imprisonment. Death penalty was not given on the ground that it was not a rarest of rare case, according to advocate Trivankumar Karnani, who filed an intervention application on behalf of Nidhi Kukreja. On Tuesday, Nidhi spoke to the Free Press Journal on the verdict, the incident, and how life has been after Jhanvi's death. Exercepts:
Q. The loss of a young child in itself is a tragedy for a family, but you did not stop. You fought for Jhanvi. Even during the trial, you intervened and attended every hearing. What made you do this?
A. I just did not want to stop at the arrest of the two for my
daughter’s murderers. Even when my two daughters were children, I used to monitor them and stood by them at every step, even though I was a working mother. In this case, I wanted to be there and I wanted answers. I still have many questions unanswered. What exactly happened there on the staircase that night? Why did Shree murder my child so very brutally?
Q. How did yourfamily cope up with the shocking incident?
A. We still have not come to terms with it. All through this, we have
not gone out for a family dinner once. My younger daughter—for whom Jhanvi was like a mother, being the elder sister—still cannot
concentrate on her studies. It has brought our lives to a standstill.
Q. Are you satisfied with the court’s verdict in sentencing Jogdhankar to life imprisonment, while acquitting Padalkar?
Answer: I am partially satisfied with the conviction of Jogdhankar,
but I am not convinced by the acquittal of Padalkar. Both of them were equal partners in the crime. Her presence at the crime scene is accepted by the court. If we look at it from a different perspective, Jhanvi and Diya grew up together as we were immediate neighbours. They went to the party that fateful night together and she was there when my daughter was brutally assaulted. So how come she has not been convicted?
Q. What makes you say that Padalkar is equal in the crime when she has been acquitted by the sessions court?
A. We will be challenging her acquittal in a court of law and I have full faith in the judiciary. Even though she has been given the benefit of doubt, there are still many questions unanswered for me. If we look at the judgment, her presence at the scene of the offense is established. Besides, all three of them had gone there together.
Q. The court has held that her mere presence is not sufficient to prove her guilt in the case. In such circumstances, what makes you believe that she too should have been convicted?
A. It is accepted that the bedsheet found on the floor had Jhanvi's blood. Also, the switchboard of the washroom Ahuja's flat where Diya had gone after the murder had blood stains of my daughter. How did her blood reach those places where she had not gone? These are the questions Diya has to answer. In our system, a victim is always a victim and sympathy is given to the accused.
Besides, if Diya was innocent, why did she or her parents not call me immediately after they came to know of the incident? All through the brutal assault Diya could have rang the doorbell of any of the flats from the eighth to the second floor and asked for help or shout for help. She did not do that.
Diya’s parents reached the place of the incident around 2:45 am,
while we came to know about the murder only at 5 am. If Diya and her family had a clear conscience, what stopped them from calling me this time when there was indeed an emergency? At times when they had knocked on the door of my house for trivial things like ice at 3 am, why did they not alert us when they came to know that something was wrong?
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Q. Did Diya ever show any remorse after the incident or during the trial?
A. No, never; not even once did she come and speak to me. She had
absolutely no remorse. She mocked me and they used to laugh at me. My
fight was not for revenge; it was for justice. I would only say, if they were right on their part, why did none of them come forward and say they are with me in this and speak to me just once? They did not even attend the funeral and shifted to another house after the murder.
Q. The court has in its verdict criticised the police for not following the procedure while collecting the evidence from the spot. What do you have to say about it?
A. I am a middle class layman person. I do not know much about the law and the procedure. At the given time, we were still in shock, we had lost our daughter, the least we wanted was that the police could have done their job well.
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