8 yrs later we ask: How did Scarlett die?

With absolute respect to the Court and its verdict on the Scarlett Keeling death case, we still do not know after eight years, how the British teenager died. Her mother Fiona, who has indeed fought a long hard battle, with the belief that she was murdered, and her legal advisor Vikram Varma, an omnipresent pillar of support to her, have been castigated by the Court, for monitoring the entire process of investigation, thus affecting its impartiality.

Fiona, again with absolute deference to the court, obviously would be tracking the case for two reasons. Firstly to keep track of the pace of the investigations in a challenging environment where most of the vital evidence has been destroyed, and secondly to ensure that the one man who could have potentially turned the course of the investigations, the probe, and possibly even the verdict Mike Manion Masala, did not come to Goa to depose (fearing that he would be harmed).

Importantly, Fiona was acutely aware of the lapses – deliberate or otherwise – in investigation, both by the Goa police and the CBI. The needle of suspicion, given all that we know and understand, points to the deliberate nature of these lapses. The Court itself has pointed to these lapses, including the non examination of two key witnesses and the failure to explain the sequence of events between the time she was found, with clothes, on the water at 4.30 am and when her naked body was discovered at 6 am. It is also very important to take into account that the initial investigation officer in the case, directed his juniors to investigate it as a accidental drowning, despite being informed that it’s homicidal in nature.

While the two main accused Samson D’Souza and Placido Carvalho who were charged by CBI for drugging, sexually abusing and murdering her were acquitted by the Court last week, the questions does remain, how did Scarlett die? Carefully read what the court order states about the cause of death. “To the best knowledge”, it is due to drowning in beach and sand waters “of a person intoxicated with alcohol and hypnotic drugs”.

It further stated, “The possibility of cause of death of the victim girl due to accidental drowning is not ruled out in this case”

It is absolutely clear that even the Children’s Court has not concluded finally on what the cause of death was using the word’s “possibly” and “not ruled out”.

The order does not conclude that it was NOT homicidal. It just concludes that there wasn’t enough on record or placed by the prosecution which could convict the accused and that the death due to drowning theory has the probability of being right. But at the same time it also has the probability of being wrong.

Therefore, for all those who believe in humanity, justice and civility, the case of Scarlett Keeling is not closed. A fresh beginning has to be made. Lapses in prosecution have a way of affecting the case at every stage and a way has to be found for a re-investigation, even if it means working with whatever evidence is on hand.

There is another aspect that needs to be looked at. The Court order stated that the cause of death, “to the best knowledge”, is due to drowning in beach and sand waters “of a person intoxicated with alcohol and hypnotic drugs”.

There are clear statements by witnesses that drugs were administered and consumed at the scene of the incident, Luis shack, itself.  These are explicit. If Scarlett was intoxicated with hypnotic drugs, the statements have to be re-looked at and the witnesses re-examined to ascertain if the hypnotic drugs were administered to Scarlett. And if that is the case then the link between drugs given to her and her ultimate death become stronger.

It is indeed a travesty that the whole exercise of the prosecution agencies appeared to ensure that the murder involvement was nullified. If Scarlett’s mother has shown the will to fight and take this to the High Court and push for a re-probe, she needs all the support from a society which increasingly getting detached from the fight for justice. What if, just what if, our own daughters are faced with the same turmoil? Let’s fight the good fight for them.