New Delhi: Those accused of murdering Jessica Lall were let off for lack of evidence. Witness after witness turned hostile even though they had given clinching evidence earlier.
CNN-IBN caught up with the Capital's Page 3 community to get their reactions on the acquittal of the accused.
Bollywood actor Shayan Munshi signed the FIR in 1999 saying Manu Sharma shot Jessica Lall.
However, in 2001, he went back on his statement, saying he did not follow Hindi and hence didn't know which document he had signed in 1999.
Munshi was not the only one who was suffering from a memory lapse, Bina Ramani who first identified Manu Sharma as the killer later went back on her statement saying she wasn't sure.
She said, "If he was the same chubby, fat person who ran away from the scene of the crime."
Fashion designer Rouble Dunglay has also been flip-flopping with his statements. He first said that he had seen Bina Ramani asking people to stop the killer but later told the police he had only heard that Jessica had been shot.
Hostile testimonies like these eventually lead to the acquittal of all the nine accused including prime accused Manu Sharma and Vikas Yadav.
"I am shocked. People like these should be condemned by society at large," CEO of strategic management firm, Counselage, Suhel Seth said.
About 100 witnesses turned hostile in the Jessica Lall murder case and most of them were her friends and colleagues.
"I can no longer expect any support if I get into trouble. I know it is one for oneself," model Sonalika said.
However, others feel comfortable shifting the blame from a group of individuals to the society at large.
"If a Harijan woman is paraded naked we still don't have any witnesses. So it is not a question of the Page 3 community only. The problem is with society at large."
"If a harijan woman is paraded naked, we still dont have any witnesses. So it is not a question of the Page 3 community only. The problem is with the society at large," Perfect Relations consulting partner Dilip Cherian said.
All that remains of the Tamarind Court today are upturned chairs and empty spaces but on the day of the murder this place was teeming with hundreds of people. However, not one of them told the court what they saw.
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