New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday came down heavily on the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) for "mishandling" the Jessica Lall murder case in the trial court.
A Division Bench of Justice R S Sodhi and Justice P K Bhasin remarked that due to SPP's mishandling of the witnesses during the trial, the accused have been let off.
"Your SPP has brought the case down and you have let off the accused," the Bench told the Delhi Police.
The Delhi HC accused the trial court prosecution of damaging its own case by failing to confront main witness Shayan Munshi when he denied telling the police that he had seen Manu Sharma shoot Lall and put the gun in his trouser pocket.
The court asked why Bina Ramani, a key witness in the case, was not declared hostile when she retracted from her statement that she had seen the prime accused Manu Sharma putting a pistol in his pocket after allegedly shooting Jessica.
However, the court praised Ramani for being the only witness to have stood by her original statements.
The failure of the prosecution to confront Ramani against fierce cross-examination by defence led to toning down of her statement, it said.
The prosecution moved an application in Delhi HC to present additional evidences.
The court was hearing an appeal filed by the Delhi police challenging the acquittal of all the nine accused in the case.
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