Jessica Lal’s killer Manu Sharma, serving a life term in one of the most high-profile crimes in the country, has been released from prison for ‘satisfactory jail conduct’. Sharma was released with 18 other prisoners from Delhi’s Tihar jail on June 1. Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal signed off on the decision after a recommendation by the seven-member Delhi Sentence Review Board. The 43-year-old, who has spent around 17 years in prison, had been out on parole to prevent crowding in the coronavirus crisis. In November 2019, his lawyer had approached the Delhi high court and said despite a record of good conduct in prison, the board had rejected his release four times in an ‘unfair and unlawful manner.’ Son of former union minister Venod Sharma, Manu Sharma was convicted in 2006 for shooting model Jessica Lal. He shot her because she refused to serve him a drink on April 30, 1999, at a party in Tamarind Court restaurant in Delhi’s Qutub Colonnade, owned by socialite Bina Ramani. A trial court acquitted him of murder in February 2006. However, the High Court, which took up the case amid nationwide outrage and protests, sentenced him to a life term in December 2006. The Supreme Court confirmed the sentence in 2010. In 2018, Jessica Lal's younger sister Sabrina Lal had said she forgave Manu Sharma and would not object if he were freed
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