The Delhi high court on Wednesday reserved its order on perjury proceedings against 19 witnesses who had allegedly turned hostile in the 1999 Jessica Lall murder case.
A division bench of justices S. Ravindra Bhat and G.P. Mittal reserved its order after Delhi police concluded its arguments on Wednesday. Delhi police had earlier submitted in high court a copy of the April 2010 Supreme Court verdict upholding the conviction of prime accused Manu Sharma for the murder.
Following this, the high court had issued notices to witnesses asking why they should not be prosecuted for the offence of perjury. There were 32 eyewitnesses who turned hostile — of them, three died and 10 were discharged.
The case relates to April 1999 when Jessica, a model, was shot dead by Manu Sharma, the son of a former Union minister and Congress leader, when she refused to serve him drinks at a late night party in South Delhi's tamarind court restaurant where she was bartending.