成人论坛

Person of the year

Although ducked out of naming someone they do have a "people who mattered in 06" section on their web site. You can check it out here. Please let us know who would have got your vote?

Sam is in Cairo: 鈥淚鈥檓 choosing Mohammed who is my interior decorator who has helped rebuild my home and create a home for me and my family.鈥�

Justin is in Arizona: 鈥淚 nominate Ben Colley who trained my guide dog who saved my life a few weeks ago.鈥�

The tragic case of Jessica Lal

The case has finally been closed . . but what does this mean for Indian justice. Nazes Afros is with us. He knows India like the proverbial back of. If you鈥檇 like to speak to him then phone in.

Sabrina Lal was Jessica鈥檚 sister. She is on the line from India: 鈥淲e knew we were up against a lto of money. It was a common man鈥檚 battle. The media was a big, big help. The media took up the campaign and brought it out into the public. The common man was outraged. They got away with literally murder. They should realise that they are not above the law.鈥�

Nazes: 鈥淚t was reported in a big way in 1999 when it happened. It was a party of the glitterati of Delhi. In the last 7 or 8 years people were waiting for the verdict and when the accused was acquitted for insufficient evidence there was a huge outrage and especially the media took it as a campaign. At that point I was watching Indian TV a lot and they were having Have Your Say-like programmes and people joined in from every corner and it became clear that witnesses had changed their statements. The actions of police were questioned.鈥�

An SMS has come in from Africa for our Person of the Year:poll:
Gilbert, a Kenyan in Tanzania.
I would select Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.She was a brave woman who criticised the Kremlin.

Sandip: 鈥淚nitially I was happy to hear the verdict. I鈥檝e been waiting for a long time. There are three issues: our judiciary is influenced; the trial was delayed and thirdly they accused get comforts in jail and there s no deterrence. We need to draw the line between a fair trial and a public trial.鈥�

Sabrina: 鈥淲hen you talk about a fair trial 鈥� it goes both ways. It wasn鈥檛 right to begin with. The only weapon or voice people like me have is the media and we were fortunate. It would be unfair to say that just because of public opinion he was punished 鈥� he was guilty to begin with. Today I鈥檓 very glad and happy.鈥�

Sandip : 鈥淚 agree with what Sabrina is saying. One more thing: judicial opinion should not be dependant on public opinion. A line should be drawn.鈥�

Nazes: 鈥淭he case was reopened because of public opinion. The high court made the decision based on all the evidence.鈥�

Harneet is in India: 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 about time. It鈥檚 extremely heartening. The entire country was waiting for this. Sabrina knows the whole country was with her and Jessica.鈥�

Nazes: 鈥淏ecause of the Lal case another case was also reopened involving the son of a very senior official. The Lal case has worked as a catalyst 鈥� it鈥檚 making things happen.鈥�

Mahesh: 鈥淚t augurs well for the judiciary. They have been put on notice.

Rabiya: 鈥淚s justice getting harder and tougher?鈥�

Mahesh: 鈥淭his is knee jerk. Because the pres highlights a case you get justice 鈥� that鈥檚 hardly healthy. It鈥檚 too ad-hoc. We require some systemic changes. We have one of the lowest judge-to-litigation ratios in the world. My father defended Sharma. We all knew Manu Sharma was guilty. Not only was he guilty but he aggravated the entire situation by subverting justice. There was a calculated effort to destroy the evidence.鈥�

Divya has called in from Chennai: 鈥淭he judiciary is on the right track. This case has reinstated our faith in it. I鈥檓 proud to be an Indian. I feel happy. I hope others do not lose hope.鈥�

Karthic: 鈥淚鈥檓 happy for the family. It is an optimistic period in this country鈥檚 history. There need to be changes.鈥�

We鈥檙e back after the news.

Person of the year . . . who?

We want to know who you鈥檇 nominate for Time鈥檚 Person of the Year? If you鈥檇 like to know the criteria here they are: "the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or for ill, and embodied what was important about the year, for better or for worse..."

Sam in Cairo is raving about his decorator Mohammed who is also a bit of an 鈥渁rtist鈥�. 鈥淗e has found a cheap way to bring homes to a market.鈥�

Justin in Arizona chose Ben Colley who trained Carmine, his guide dog: 鈥淐armine saved my life from a car about three weeks ago. Somebody who is prepared to selflessly trained my dog for several months . . . that deserves a lot.鈥�

Sam: 鈥淎 lot of people have personal ideas about what鈥檚 going on in the world and I think that鈥檚 positive. When someone helps you train a guide dog that鈥檚 a tangible benefit.鈥�

Dylan is in Dundee, Scotland: 鈥淚鈥檝e lead a sheltered life this year so I鈥檝e not had much engagement with the community and the news but one person made a great impression . . . that was David Walliams [British Comedian] who undertook a swim of the . He is special because he did something that was selfless.鈥�

Camilla phoned in: 鈥淚 nominate Giorgio Armani for the Red Collection. He鈥檚 tried to draw attention to the AIDS epidemic. When he came to London Fashion Week he used red colours in his collection. He used his brand power to push the issue. He was speaking about the size zero models as well. It sparked a whole load of debate. He doesn鈥檛 take the recognition.鈥�

Selaam: 鈥淚 want to nominate Anton Balasingham the . He gave power to the Tamil people.鈥�

Erdashan: 鈥淚 nominate Frank Gardiner of the 成人论坛. He was shot in Saudi by Al Qaeda and he recovered and is doing outstanding journalism. Someone who has gone so much pain and lost his cameraman [Simon Cummings] he continues to serve and be objective in his reporting. He doesn鈥檛 generalise the Muslim community around the world. More and more journalists like him need to take up that journalism.鈥�

Well that鈥檚 all folks. So many nominations, but so little time. We had to ditch the German Opera story 鈥� apologies if you were waiting up for that.

Please, do continue the debate on the blog and we鈥檒l see who won out tomorrow morning. TIME may have copped out but we here at WHYS are fearless in our pursuit of public opinion . . .

Goodnight and sleep tight.