Jess Will Have No Justice

"Money and muscle power won at the end of the day," a helpless Sabrina said. After Jessica’s murder on April 29, 1999, at socialite Bina Ramani’s South Delhi restaurant Tamarind Court, she has seen the case collapse bit by bit. All key witnesses turned hostile and the investigation has come under the scanner. Jessica, filling as a bartender, was shot dead, allegedly by Manu Sharma, after she refused him a drink. Incidentally, the restaurant did not have a bar license.

In a 200-page verdict, additional sessions judge S.L. Bhayana cited three grounds for acquitting the accused—three main eyewitnesses had not identified Sharma as the man who shot Jessica; the murder weapon was never recovered; eyewitness accounts that two shots were fired from one weapon were at variance with the forensic report which stated that the two spent rounds came from two different weapons.

Additional solicitor general K.T.S. Tulsi admitted that the whole case fell apart with the forensic report findings. He blames it on the shoddy investigation by the police and the inclusion of too many witnesses. "They unnecessarily tried to tighten up a perfectly genuine case by padding...all this does not stand scrutiny in court. When there are too many witnesses, there are bound to be contradictions." The All India Democratic Women’s Association, expressing shock over the verdict, demanded that the state appeal and also order a re-investigation. aidwa president Subhasini Ali said justice had been denied because the accused belonged to the "elite, influential and moneyed sections of society".