Life in Prison for Indian model killer

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

The son of India's governing Congress party has been sentanced to life in prison for the murder of Jessica Lal in 1999.

Manu Sharma, the son of former federal minister Venod Sharma, was convicted of shooting the model in one of Delhi's most fashionable restaurants, Tamarind Court.

The case was reopened after Sharma and eight other co-accused were acquitted in February, prompting a public outcry.

The Delhi high court also ordered Sharma to pay 50,000 rupees ($1,100) in compensation to Jessica Lal's family.

While the prosecution had been demanding Sharma be sentanced to death, the Delhi high court sentanced him to life in prison, since there was no evidence to support that the murder was pre-planned.

Two of Sharma's friends, Vikas Yadav, the son of another politician, and Amardeep Singh Gill, a former manager with Coca-Cola, were sentenced to four years in jail for destroying evidence.

Prosecutors said Manu Sharma fired at Jessica Lal after she refused to serve him a drink at a Tamarind Court, where she was working as a waitress.

Several eyewitnesses came forward to the police initially, but retracted their statements by the time the case came to trial seven years later.

The trial finally collapsed in February 2006 when the lower court judge said the prosecution's case contained loopholes and there was insufficient evidence for a conviction.

The acquittals sparked public outrage, with protest rallies and a sustained media campaign launched to demand justice for Jessica Lal, who was 34 when she was killed. Police appealed against the acquittals and opened an investigation into allegations that there had been a conspiracy to pervert justice. Several witnesses and police officials involved in the case were questioned.

Campaigners said it had been the latest of many cases where members of India's elite were able to manipulate the law and get away with murder.

"I am really happy with the judgement. I really could not ask for more," the murdered model's sister, Sabrina Lal, told reporters after the sentencing.