Shocked! First, about the really sad and brutal murder; second, that you actually managed to smoothly move beyond that and whine and crib about insufficient coverage for a law firm opening! Seriously!????

Kian, despite your liberal outlook to comments, I have not seen a more insensitive comment than 2. I do hope you will remove it.

Alas! It will be one amongst our creed who will argue that this man does not, infact, fall under the rarest of the rare.

Ironical, innit?

Saddened, shocked and outraged...

I have seen and liaised with dozens of young-gen lawyers, both male and female - and at the risk of sounding horribly insensitive now, would like to list some of my observations here:

1. If you have a "cause" to flaunt, do it - but not at the risk of making yourself stand out in society like a flag-bearer for that.. At least not until you have created your own position impregnable (in terms of physical safety at least!)..

2. Your education as a lawyer gives you very powerful weaponry in terms of understanding of systems, procedures and institutions.. but at the risk of again sounding "old-school", i don't think most young professionals really understand the capacity for "lowness" amongst human beings..

3. The status you enjoy through your close/near one's privileged standing in society will count for nothing in the twisted head of someone who can't see beyond the most visible aspects of a personality. We can all strive for creating a society where it is acknowledged that what I am seen to be is really "Their" problem... but until that happens, what I make someone else think about me, is as much my own problem as theirs!!

4. A law-school campus, despite how "dog-eat-dog" it may seem when you are In there, is not really representative of what the "real world" is like.. It is significantly more ruthless and predatory.. Even well-cut suits and designer clothes do not take away the animal from within - a pathan watchman is, well, a pathan watchman!

5. This is not to say do not have a "cause" or do not "fight" for what you believe in.. just that your fight will live if (and only if) you live.

6. It is good to have "attitude" and audacity.. but in most situations, better to have common sense.

7. It is good to dress as you wish.. better to dress as your environment reasonably expects you to..

8. What seniors, judges and clients will remember you best and longest for, is the creativity and the laser-edge you bring in to your work.. not the dress, not the make-up, not the mannerisms. These are most noticeable to the people who you would rather Not notice you...

Written in anguish. And with a prayer for the soul who has passed on... May she rest in peace.

I agree! completely

Anon is obviously also a part of the "we are who we are and the rest of the world sucks" brigade... Well, join the "Occupy XYZ" campaign in protest against everything "bad" about this world.. while things get bad to worse anyway..

What is Sicko and despicable is that a young person was identified and isolated and murdered(correct - by a psychopath, in a particular environment..).. this may not have been, if if if..

That is despicable.

Try and relive the young "couple"s life as perceived by their immediate society in the past 8/9 months in that place in Wadala, not "New Cuffe Parade" or whatever the name they want to sell it under (even today surrounded by all the "camps" that society is hemmed in - by truckers, bootleggers, squatters and criminals of all ilk).. not by those who have the benefit of a wonderful college education and a global outlook to life, people and relationships...

I agree that the extreme end of this argument is perhaps Talibanisation.. and no one can advocate that (at least not from what one sees and hears on a media largely owned by Western funds)!

But be sensitive to where you are, you cannot wish away the rest of the real world - is all I can say..

@ Old Lawyer

if- she had work full length clothes and covered her face
if- she had said ji and namaste everytime she met the security guard
if- she had stayed in a girl's hostel

these are the ifs you are talking about, isn't it-

Tell me Sir, what is your real name? Amar Jyoti Kalita???

Old Lawyer: Would be interested in your thoughts on the passage below.

Women Do Not Exist for the Purposes of Your Boner
A lot of heterosexual men get very angry when women don't look the way they think women "should" look. But guess what? "Should" is not a thing. Women's bodies are none of your business. Women's body hair is none of your business. What women weigh is none of your business. What women wear is none of your business. Whether or not women want to fuck you is none of your business, unless they do want to fuck you, in which case you should go for it (high-five!). [http://jezebel.com/5930663/what-no-one-else-will-tell-you-about-feminism]

I loved how you used the term 'heterosexual men' as opposed to the abundabtly visible 'homosexual men' in India.

Very politically correct-western-toomuchsoaps of you.

Quoting Old Lawyer:

Try and relive the young "couple"s life as perceived by their immediate society in the past 8/9 months in that place in Wadala, not "New Cuffe Parade" or whatever the name they want to sell it under (even today surrounded by all the "camps" that society is hemmed in - by truckers, bootleggers, squatters and criminals of all ilk).. not by those who have the benefit of a wonderful college education and a global outlook to life, people and relationships...

I agree that the extreme end of this argument is perhaps Talibanisation.. and no one can advocate that (at least not from what one sees and hears on a media largely owned by Western funds)!

But be sensitive to where you are, you cannot wish away the rest of the real world - is all I can say..

Apart from the fairly despicable use of quotation marks around the word couple, I have a small problem with what you say. You're basically suggesting that people should do and say things only if they're going to be acceptable to the society that they're doing and saying these things in. Does your comment achieve this standard? It seems fairly unacceptable to the majority of people on this forum (the society, in this case). So if someone was to kill you (or hack your computer as we're talking about an online community), will your first thought be to say "well, I shouldn't have said that on LI"?

Probably not.

What you're saying isn't a mild form of talibanization, it is talibanization. And talibanization isn't just bad because the west wants you to believe its bad, its bad for the same reasons that sati is bad, widow remarriage bans are bad, and torture is bad. It's bad because people's rights are made subject to the whims and fancies of the society that surrounds them, and, as Kian pointed out, that society consists of people like you, who believe that by virtue of being successful or different and being proud of being successful or different, young people are committing some great crime, because they're not aspiring to be exactly like you.

By switching off the channel/disabling comments, the "psycho-ness" will not vanish my friend..

Exactly like, by waving one's own flag (of whatever one's 'modern' beliefs may be), it does not...

So please try to see that alternate worlds exist - and not the only ones that you are most comfortable in.

It appears Old Lawyer is being targeted/isolated! Just like you want to live your world, he/she too has equal right to live the world of his/her belief!!

I agree with "Solicitor". These are not merely one off incidents. May be, in another couple of years, you will hear of a similar incident. There are different angles to this incident. However, to set facts right, it is understood from reports in the TOI and other e-media sources that the young lady worked for a private company and not a law firm.

As such this issue primarily relates to lack of deterrence in law on hand and on other the falling moral values that do not restrain a lust soaked maniac to deprive a youngster of her life. This could have been any other lady and a non-lawyer, as well, married or unmarried, as rightly pointed out by an earlier commentator.

Law firms/employers/parents and potential victims must seek to plan and be prepared for any such future incidents with the knowledge/understanding that we cannot change our policing and prosecution systems and that we will never be able to instill fear for criminal/illegal acts. Our legislative, bureaucratic, policing, judicial systems are to blame alongwith the mindset that afflicts employer-employee relationships. How long shall we wear of a Ruchika, Jessica or Pallavi?

Law firms and other employers do need to appreciate that they thrive because of their employees. Personal lives of people involved in the legal industry, whether be it in litigation, law firms or companies is invariably in mess. There is hardly any time for anything. Very few people have decent personal lives.

Secondly, as far as law firms are concerned, females are also required from time to time in the big firms to work late at night. Most firms do not have provision for a home drop. However, youngsters coming out of the new day law schools, throng to these law firms for the money on offer as well as for a role in the headline grabbing multimillion dollar deals. It is a system built on revenues, timesheets and has no concern for the safety and healthy lives of the associates that are the life blood of the system. Lets instill a few more human values in the system. This will immensely benefit the system.

Thirdly, parents of youngsters, especially females, must take a little more care in overseeing the worktimings of their wards and the safety systems in place of accomodation, especially where the ward lives alone in a big city.

Hope we develop holistic ways and means to avoid repetitions of such incidents in the future and an environment where females can live and work safely. This would be in national interest, else the country will be deprived of the productivity from almost half of its population.

no. for some things - and this is one of them - there are no second chances. so No, don't forgive the piece of s***. It was premeditated and done in cold blood. Why do you think he didn't know what he was doing?

Forgiveness have power of healing. Loved-ones of Pallavi don't need revenge they need peace. By no means he should be let free, he should spent a long time of his life thinking each day of what he did. We should forgive him and let him repent for what he did. This will truly bring peace to Pallavi. This is my personal view and you are in your own right to think otherwise.