The Jessica Lal murder case involved the shooting of model Jessica Lal by Manu Sharma during a party in 1999. Initially acquitted in 2006, public outrage and media pressure led to a retrial where Manu Sharma was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2006. The case highlighted issues of witness tampering and corruption, ultimately sparking widespread protests for justice in India.

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Case Study:-
Jesssica Lal Murder Case
(Manu Sharma Vs State(NCT of Delhi)
Introduction:-
Jessica Lal (5 January 1965 – 30 April 1999) was a
model in New Delhi who was working as a celebrity barmaid
at a crowded socialite party when she was shot dead at around
2 am on 30 April 1999. Dozens of witnesses pointed to
Siddharth Vashisht, also known as Manu Sharma, the son
of Venod Sharma, a wealthy and influential Congress-
nominated Member of Parliament from Haryana, as the
murderer.
In the ensuing trial, Manu Sharma and a number of
others were acquitted on 21 February 2006.
Following intense media and public pressure, the
prosecution appealed and the Delhi High Court conducted
proceedings on a fast track with daily hearings conducted
over 25 days. The trial court judgment was overturned, and
Manu Sharma was found guilty of having murdered Lal. He
was sentenced to life imprisonment on 20 Decesmber 2006.
Background of the Case:-
During the summer of 1999, leading socialite Bina Ramani
had been organizing “Thursday special” nights, at her newly
opened “tamarind court” restaurant, at Qutub colonnade, a
refurbished haveli overlooking the Qutub Minar in Mehrauli.
On 29 April 1999, it was the seventh and last Thursday
Special of the season; also being celebrated was the foreign
visit of Bina Ramani’s Canadian husband Georges Mailhot,
for a period of six months. Though the restaurant was yet to receive its liquor license, drinks could be
bought through discreetly marked ‘QC’ coupons, and on that night, several models and friends were
serving drinks at the ‘Once Upon A Time’ bar, including Jessica Lal, Bina Ramani’s daughter Malini
Ramani, friends Shayan Munshi, and others.
Previously, at 10 p.m., Manu Sharma alias Siddharth Vashisht, the 24-year-old son of former Union
minister Venod Sharma, having skipped his planned visit to Chandigarh, drove up to the Friends Colony
house of Amrinder Singh Gill (Tony), 32,a general manager of the Coca-Cola bottling unit in Delhi,
where they were joined by 30-year-old Alok Khanna, a colleague of Tony, and Vikas Yadav, son of
Rajya Sabha member, D.P. Yadav, a politician from Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh. The fourhad a few drinks
and then drove down to Mehrauli in two separate cars.
They reached Tamarind Court at 11.15 p.m. Manu Sharma had already attended one of the special
Thursday nights; subsequently they ordered a few drinks and stayed on.Elsewhere in the town, event
management specialist Shahana Mukherjee picked upramp model Jessica Lall from her house at 10 p.m.,
and escorted her to a party, where she was to be the celebrity bartender that night, as was Shayan Munshi.
Jessica Lal
Born 5 January 1965
Died 30 April 1999
(aged 34)
New Delhi, India.
Occupation Actor, Model

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"..I won't give you a sip even if you give me a thousand bucks!"
Jessica Lall to Manu Sharma, before she was shot at (overheard by Malini Ramani)
As it was a busy night, the drinks were soon over, at about 2 a.m. Manu Sharma asked for a drink, which
Jessica refused; he then tried to offer a thousand rupees, which she refused as well. Though there are
many versions of what happened next, sometime soon, the inebriated and enraged Manu Sharma shot at
Jessica twice at point blank range, the first bullet hitting the ceiling. The second one proved fatal, as it hit
Jessica, who was now kneeling over, on the temple and she fell unconscious immediately. Twenty
minutes later, she was rushed to the Aashlok Hospital (in Safdurjung Enclave) in a car but she succumbed
to her injuries that same night at the Apollo Hospital. The police brought the body to AIIMS for post-
mortem examination. Dr. R.K Sharma and Dr. Sudhir Gupta were the AIIMS Autopsy Surgeons & gave
important forensic opinion to the prosecution in this case at various stages.
In the ensuing melee, as the 90-odd celebrity guests and Delhi’s glitterati scattered around, the culprits
Alok Khanna, Amardeep Singh Gill (Tony), and Vikas Yadav slipped away from the scene together in
Aloks car, while Manu Sharma hid in a nearby village, one km away, for a while. The trio dropped Amit
Jhingan at his Vasant Kunj residence, and reached Tonys Friends Colony residence, where later Manu
Sharma also joined them, after hitchhiking his way there on a two-wheeler.
Next, Manu Sharma called Amit Jhingan, in whose white Maruti Gypsy Manu Sharma,Vikas Yadav, and
Amit went over to the Mehrauli area beyond Qutub Colonnade, andasked Amit to dig out the weapon
from a sand pile in a nearby village, where Manu had buried it. Thereafter, Jhingan dropped Manu at
Tonys residence and returned home. According to Police sources, Manu Sharma then called over another
friend named Titu, who was visiting India from the USA for a wedding, to MP D.P. Yadavs residence
where Vikas Yadav had gone into hiding. There he was given the weapon for hiding. Titu's whereabouts
were never known and he ostensibly flew off to the USA, after hiding the weapon, a .22-bore pistol.
Manu Sharma spent the night at Vikas Yadavs Ghaziabad residence; later, their escape vehicle, a Tata
Sierra, was found abandoned in NOIDA
While Manu Sharma and most of his family continued to abscond, as did Vinod Sharma and his family,
Alok Khanna and Amardeep Singh Gill (Tony) were arrested on May 4. On May 8, Bina Ramani, her
husband, George Mailhot and her daughter Malini, were arrested under the Excise Act for running an
illegal bar after interrogation; also arrested was Manu Sharmas accomplice, Amit Jhingan, from
VasantKunj under Section 201 read with 120 (conspiring to destroy evidence), on the basis of disclosures
made by Manu Sharma during interrogation. A Delhi court granted bail to the Ramanis, though their
passports were seized, with Bina being a British national, her husband, a Canadian national, and Malini a
US national; and Amit Jhingan was remanded to judicial custody till May 21.
On August 3, 1999, Delhi police filed the charge sheet in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate, wherein
Manu Sharma was named the main accused and charged under sections 302 (murder), 201 (destruction
of evidence), 120(b) (criminal conspiracy), and 212 (harbouring suspects) of the Indian Penal Code;
and sections 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act. While other accused, like Vikas Yadav, Coca-Cola
Company officials Alok Khanna and Amardeep Singh Gill (destroying evidence of the caseand
conspiracy); Shyam Sunder Sharma, Amit Jhingan, Yograj Singh, Harvinder Chopra, Vikas Gill, Raja
Chopra, Ravinder Krishan Sudan and Dhanraj, were all charged variously under sections 120(b), 302, 201
and 212 of the IPC (for giving shelter to the accused and destroying evidence)
Manu Sharma gave a statement to the Police, which was taped, in which he admits shooting Jessica Lall.
"The idea at that time was to shoot in challenge. It was embarrassing to hear that even if I paid a thousand
bucks I would not get a sip of drink." This audiotape was obtained and aired by the TV channel NDTV,
but it does not constitute legal testimony. Subsequently, however, the confession was retracted, and a not
guilty plea was entered in the trial. Manu Sharma is the son of one of the leading politicians in the state of

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Haryana, Venod Sharma, who belongs to the Congress Party. Earlier a minister in the National Cabinet,
Venod Sharma was a minister in the Haryana government at the time the trial judgement was announced.
Manu Sharma is the son of one of the leading politicians in the state of Haryana, Venod Sharma, who
belongs to the Congress Party. Earlier a minister in the National Cabinet, Venod Sharma was a minister in
the Haryana government at the time the trial judgement was announced. Subsequently, a sting operation
by the newsmagazine Tehelka exposed how Venod Sharma paid bribes to win over key witnesses, and
Venod Sharma resigned from the Haryana Ministry on October 6, 2006.One of Manu's aunts is a daughter
of the erstwhile President of India, Shankar Dayal Sharma.
The Initial Trial
The Jessica Lall murder case went up for trial in August 1999, with Manu charged with murder and his
friends charged with related crimes such as destroying evidence and sheltering criminal suspects. Four of
the witnesses who had initially said they had seen the murder happen eventually turned hostile. Shayan
Munshi, a model and friend who was serving drinks beside Jessica Lall, changed his story completely; as
for earlier testimony recorded with the police, he said that the writing was in Hindi, a language he was not
familiar with, and it should be repudiated. Karan Rajput and Shivdas Yadav also had not seen anything,
while Parikshit Sagar said he had left the place before the incident. In a conversation with the sister of
Jessica, Karan Rajput is alleged to have played a tape-recording [14] discussing with some friends how
Venod Sharma's people had "won over" several witnesses already.
Also, it appears that the cartridges used in the murder were altered. Although the gun was never
recovered, these cartridges were for some reason sent for forensic evaluation, where it turned out that they
had been fired from different weapons. This led to a further weakening of the prosecution case.[citation
needed] this happened quiet a few weeks ago. Police is still searching for the enquiry witness.
Shayan Munshi's testimony
Shayan Munshi is the son of a well-known ophthalmologist in Kolkata, where he studied at the reputed
Don Bosco School. An aspiring model and an acquaintance of Jessica's, Munshi was serving behind the
bar with Jessica when the shooting occurred. In his initial statement he said unequivocally that Manu
Sharma had fired the gun twice, once into the air, and once at Jessica. This testimony was recorded by the
police in their First Information Report (FIR), which Shayan signed. However, during the trial he claimed
that he did not know Hindi and that he was not aware of what he had signed
At the trial, Shayan said that Manu Sharma had fired only once, and that also into the air. He described
Manu's clothes carefully. Subsequently, he said that another bullet, fired by someone else, was the one to
hit Jessica. About this man's dress, he was evasive, and saying only that he was wearing a "light-
coloured" shirt. This led to the "two-gun theory" - where the forensic report said that the bullets were
fired from different weapons. Following the acquittal, there was intense pressure on Shayan Munshi, who
was already had a successful modeling career. He was involved in hosting a cooking show
On May 13, 2006, he was detained at Calcutta airport as he was about to board a flight for Bangkok,
along with his wife Peeya Rai Chowdhary. Acquittal by Lower Court After extensive hearings with
nearly a hundred witnesses, a Delhi trial court headed by Additional Sessions Judge S. L. Bhayana,
acquitted 9 accused in JessicaLall Murder case, on February 21, 2006. Those acquitted were, Manu
Sharma, VikasYadav, Manu's uncle Shyam Sundar Sharma, Amardeep Singh Gill and Alok Khanna, both
former executives of a multinational soft drinks company, cricketer Yuvraj Singh's father Yograj Singh,
Harvinder Chopra, Vikas Gill and Raja Chopra. In all, of the 12 accused, two, Ravinder Kishan Sudan
and Dhanraj, were absconding while the trial court discharged Amit Jhingan at the time of framing of
charges.

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The ground for the acquittals according to the court was one, The police failed to recover the weapon
which was used to fire at Jessica Lal as well as prove their theory that the two cartridges, emptied shells
of which were recovered from the spot, were fired from one weapon,; all three eyewitnesses listed by the
police in its charge sheet, namely, Shiv Lal Yadav, an electrician at Tamarind Court, actor Shyan Munshi
and Karan Rajput, a visitor at the restaurant that night, turning hostile during the trial, in addition to this
the police also failed to establish a complete chain of the circumstances leading to the incident and trace
the murder weapon which according to it, was used in the crime. Throughout his 179-page case verdict,
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) S L Bhayana said that police sought to 'create' and 'introduce false
evidence' against Sharma. The judgment repeatedly hints that the prosecution may have attempted, from
the very beginning, to fabricate the evidence and present false witnesses, so as to render the case
indefensible. In conclusion, he agrees with "the counsel for the accused that on April 30, 1999 the police
had decided to frame the accused," read the judgment.
The judgment faulted the police for deciding on the accused first and then collecting evidence against
him, instead of letting the evidence lead them to the murderer. Since the prosecution had failed to
establish guilt beyond doubt, all nine accused were acquitted.
The ruling sparked a huge public outcry. Hundreds of text-messages and emails were sent to major news
channels and newspapers protesting the “injustice”, and many claimed that Sharma’s innocence was only
upheld because of his father’s powerful position in government and believed that the court had
purposefully overlooked evidence. Rang De Basanti, a Bollywood film which premiered less than a
month earlier, inspired a rash of protests in the area. One of the scenes in the film depicts a large crowd
holding a silent candle-light vigil at the India Gate in honor of a fallen airman, whose wrongful death was
covered up by the government and the military. This seemingly struck a chord within the public at the
time. Two major copy-cat vigils occurred, one among models, actors, and other celebrities in honor of
Jessica, and the other was organized by a group called the “Middle Finger”, now known as the Human
Rights Protection Group. Other protests, now under the title “Justice for Jessica”, against the perceived
miscarriage of justice were organized in the area by the group. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh publicly
expressed concern at the general phenomenon of witnesses changing their testimony, in an oblique
reference to the Jessica Lal case. President Abdul Kalam received a petition of 200,000 names collected
by journalists at NDTV, and promised action.
With the growing pressure from the public, the higher courts of New Delhi admitted a police appeal on
the case on March 26, 2006, only a month after the acquittal. It was not a retrial, but an appeal based on
evidence already marshaled by the lower courts mainly due to a re-examination of the bullet casings
found at the scene. In the meantime, a New Delhi-based magazine known as Tehelka embarked on an
extensive mission to uncover the truth behind the accusations of bribery and corruption against Sharma’s
father. The undercover operation would reveal to its subscribers on September 9, 2006 a detailed
interview—which would later be broadcasted by Star News and NDTV—with Shayan Munshi. In the
interview he was led to believe that the interviewers were producers for a film, and that they wished to
audition him. In the filmed interview, it is recorded that he clearly speaks, reads, and understands Hindi.
Another interview orchestrated by the magazine revealed that large bribes were given to witnesses by
Sharma’s father Venod to keep them quiet about the case. By December 18, 2006, the courts held Manu
Sharma guilty based on existing evidence, based on two spent cartridges recovered from Sharma's car.
The ballistic analysis for one of the bullets matched the bullet recovered from Lal's skull.
On December 20, 2006: High Court awards life imprisonment term to main convict Manu Sharma with
fine of Rs.50,000 and also sentences co-convicts Amardeeo Singh Gill and Vikas Yadav to four years’
prison term with Rs.3,000 fine each.
May 4, 2011: High Court reserves judgement on whether to prosecute 19 witness including Munshi on
the charge of perjury for turning hostile.

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May 22, 2013: High Court orders perjury proceedings of Munshi and ballistic expert P.S. Manocha and
absolves 17 other witness of the charge.
Legal loopholes used,
After the verdict many experts pointed fingers at the flaws in the Indian Evidence Act of 1872, especially
Sections 25-29:
“No confession made to a police officer shall be proved as against a
person accused of any offense.” (Section 25, Indian Evidence Act)
This section was used by the Sharma defense team as a loophole within the trial. While Sharma initially
confessed to shooting Jessica Lal while in police custody, the prosecution was unable to neither bring it as
evidence in court nor put it on record. A confession to guilt can be used as evidence only if it is recorded
by a magistrate under Section 164 of the criminal procedure code, after abiding by a set of precautionary
conditions to ensure that it is voluntary and including that the accused would not be sent back to police
custody after making such a statement. Although created to keep abuse from happening within the police
station, this law impeded justice due to understaffed, overworked police who likely were pressured to go
around this law despite the consequences.
References:-
1) Florida State University Libraries_Honors Theses_The Division of Undergraduate Studies_2011
“Justice for Jessica: A Human Rights Case Study on Media Influence, Rule of Law, and Civic
Action in India” Lisette Alvarez
2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jessica_Lal
3) https://www.scribd.com/doc/45502988/Jessica-Lall-Murder-Case-History
4) Bolywood Film: “NO ONE KILLED JESSICA” directed by Raj Kumar Gupta and was released
on 7th January, 2011.
5) https://www.legalindia.com/jessica-lal-a-case-of-indian-realism/
6) https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/all-accused-acquitted-in-jessica-lal-murder-
case/article3181989.ece
7) https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Jessica-Lall-murder-case-Chronology-of-
events/article11193647.ece