EDIT :: GOMANTAK TIMES, March 5, 2008 Mystery or farce?
No peace for Scarlette even in death Fifteen-year-old Scarlette Keeling was discovered dead on the morning of February 18 on the Anjuna beach. Nearly 15 days later, she has still not found peace. From death, to a mystery death, to an accidental death, to murder, the story kept changing, thanks to Scarlette's mother Fiona and a lawyer, Vikram Verma, who are doing all they can to retain the interest of the media in the case. And what better way to do it than to inject an element of mystery, even if none exists. When her half naked body was discovered, the first thought that comes to mind was murder, or perhaps rape and murder. These crimes have started happening with greater regularity in Goa. The theory would have held out, if not for the autopsy report, which concluded that Scarlette died due to drowning. It was just too simple. All said and done, the autopsy report drained the story of all the juice. Of course, it did raise questions about why she was not wearing any clothes? Was she forced under the water? These questions cannot be answered in an autopsy. Besides, if the body was floating around in the Arabian Sea through out the night, all evidence of rape is probably lost. All the police has as evidence at this moment is the semi-naked dead body of Scarlette. Now we know that she suffered some abrasions on the shins and forehead. This, together with statements from the mother, the lawyer, interest of the Press in the United Kingdom and the rest of India, constitute the so-called mystery. This is not going to be an easy case to crack. Unless the police zero in on an eyewitness, the best that they will be able to do is piece together the happenings of the fateful night and hope that some witness, or approver, suffers a bout of conscientiousness. Remember the Siolim murder case? Over a year ago, a girl named Sheryl Green was found dead in a stream in Siolim. Her trousers were pulled down, raising suspicions that she was raped. With very little clues, the police finally caught hold of her boyfriend and got him to confess. Confessions to the police, as we all know, cannot be used as evidence in a court of law unless the accused sticks to his confession. There are similarities between the Sheryl Green and Scarlette Keeling cases. Difficult cases like these need time and painstaking investigation and even then, we might not see the face of the murderer. What the mother of the girl and her lawyer want is a story that she was murdered. The evidence at this point of time does not lend itself to this theory. Given the manner in which the mother and her lawyer have gone about creating a media blitz, the police are definitely under pressure to crack the case. Even if they do, will the family accept the verdict? Remember how footballer Christiano Junior died on the field? We all wanted to believe that he was felled by a blow from the goalkeeper. Finally, two autopsies, one in Bangalore and the other in Brazil, showed that he died of a heart attack. Media pressure has now forced the police to conduct a second autopsy on Scarlette. This might be a prudent move by the police and the government. Hopefully, it will put an end to the farce being directed by Fiona Keeling and Vikram Verma and played out in the media.
