Remembering Sabrina Lall, a fighter with a sensitive soul

NEW DELHI: A dedicated fighter, brave, beautiful and a sensitive soul. This is how people who knew Sabrina Lall described her as news poured in of her untimely death.
Lall, who waged a hard and often lonely battle for years to bring the killers of her sister Jessica to justice, passed away at the age of 53 on Sunday evening at a hospital in Gurugram from liver cirrhosis.
Her initial response to the acquittals of Jessica’s killers was one of lack of surprise, indicating that she was aware that the trial had been botched and evidence tampered with. But with mounting public outrage, Sabrina became the symbol of the “Justice for Jessica” campaign and spoke against the compromised system that allowed the killers to walk free.
The Jessica murder case shook the entire nation and TOI voiced their anger, highlighting the loopholes in the investigation and prosecution. People came out on the streets and held candlelight marches after a Patiala House court, ignoring evidence, acquitted the accused, including Manu Sharma, the son of a former Union minister.
Bina Ramani, a close friend of Sabrina, said, “I’m extremely sad that at such a young age we lost a beautiful and good person. Why did she have to suffer like this? I didn’t even know she was ill. She was very special.”
“She was a very dedicated fighter for justice. In the initial years, it (justice) kept getting derailed because of corruption, bribery and kickbacks. The case kept going from court to court… All her family and well-wishers were there with her. I had given testimony before the high court, which dug up all the original FIRs and we finally got justice,” added Ramani.
Advocate Ashok Arora, who made some bold allegations after the acquittals and joined the campaign for justice, recalled how his statement before the Chief Justice created a furore and there was even talk of contempt of court.
“She (Sabrina) came to my place and said ‘Ashok you did something that the judge or the entire system could not do’. That showed the beauty of her soul that she felt so indebted. She was not only brave, but also a sensitive soul. She didn’t need to thank me,” Arora told TOI.
In 1999, Lall was a woman in quest of justice for her slain sister. But last year she forgave Sharma who walked out of jail after Delhi Sentence Review Board recommended his premature release.
“You have to forgive. If you hold on to hate and revenge, you cannot move on. Forgiveness is something you have to feel. You can never forget, but you need to forgive at some point,” she told mediapersons soon after writing in 2018 to the jail authorities that she had no objection to Sharma’s release.