The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi allowed the release of Manu Sharma who was convicted for the murder of Jessica Lal on the recommendation of the seven members of the Sentence Review Board (SRB) in May this year. He was released along with 18 other prisoners from Delhi’s Tihar Jail on Monday.
Manu Sharma, son of former Union minister Venod Sharma, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Delhi High Court in December 2006 for killing Jessica Lal on the night of May 30, 1999, after she refused to serve him liquor at the Tamarind Court restaurant Qutub Colonnade in south Delhi’s Mehrauli area.
In 2019, lawyer and social activist Amit Sahni had approached the Delhi high court seeking Siddharth Vashishta, better known as Manu Sharma’s, release, which was denied by the SRB on four separate occasions.
In the past two years, Manu Kumar was also transferred to the so-called open jail in a reward for his “good conduct,” he was allowed to step out of the prison for work at 8 am and was told to return by 6 pm.
In 2018, Jessica Lall’s younger sister Sabrina Lall said that she forgave Manu Sharma and would not object if he were freed. “I truly believe he has been doing good work in jail… it’s a load off my chest and I feel at peace with myself, his conviction was closure for me,” she told NDTV.
Stay tuned to The Live Mirror for more updates.