The Hindu : New Delhi News : Verdict reserved on Manu Sharma’s bail plea

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Verdict reserved on Manu Sharma’s bail plea

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi: At the conclusion of arguments, the Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved verdict on the bail application of Manu Sharma, son of senior Congress leader Vinod Sharma, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Jessica Lal murder case.

The prosecution case was that the ramp model was shot dead on the intervening night of April 29-30, 1999 at a party at the Qutub Colonnade restaurant in south Delhi. A trial court on February 21, 2006 acquitted all the nine accused, observing that there was lack of evidence against them. However, the Delhi High Court on December 20, 2006 reversed the acquittal and awarded life imprisonment to Manu Sharma.

In his arguments before a Bench consisting of Justices C.K. Thakker and D.K. Jain, senior counsel Ram Jethmalani, appearing for the petitioner, said the High Court’s verdict was perverse. The “judgment of conviction is not entitled to be qualified as a judgment. The case was foisted on Manu Sharma and evidence was fabricated. This was proved by the fact that the forensic report confirmed that bullets were fired from two weapons.”

He said Jessica was shot dead not for her refusal to serve liquor but for “some other reason.” She was shot dead because she did not give someone something she had promised. In a country where liquor was freely available, a person could not be expected to shoot down another merely for refusal to serve liquor.

Mr. Jethmalani alleged that the media browbeat the High Court as well as counsel appearing for Mr. Sharma. and thus completely prevented free and fair hearing.

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