Nine years to convict a drunk driver who killed 5 people .!!!

Systemic delays of Indian legal system on display
Talk of legal reforms remain just that. Talk only
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India court upholds conviction of Sanjeev Nanda
Monday, 20 July 2009 12:39 BBC

The trial attracted lots of attention

A court in India's capital, Delhi, has upheld the conviction of Sanjeev Nanda, the son of a wealthy arms dealer, in a notorious hit-and-run case.

The court, however, reduced Nanda's sentence from five to three years.

Nanda, who was accused of driving while drunk, was found guilty last year of running over and killing six people in Delhi in January 1999.

His lawyers now say they will appeal against his conviction and sentence in the country's Supreme Court.

Three others were also convicted for destruction of evidence by the Delhi high court when it sentenced Nanda to jail last September. His co-accused was acquitted.

The court also ordered the police to launch criminal proceedings against a key witness in the case for "giving misleading and false testimony" in the case.

During the trial, several witnesses changed their testimony, amid accusations they had been bought off.

The so-called "BMW hit-and-run case" has been compared with other high-profile cases in Delhi in the past decade in which witnesses changed their testimony, amid accusations that they had been bought off.

In one such case - the 1999 murder of model Jessica Lal - the lack of evidence led to the main accused being acquitted until a public outcry led to a retrial and the verdict being overturned.