Jessica Lal

Jessica Lal was an Indian model, whose brutal murder took the country by storm. Her story is a testament to the functioning of the Indian judicial and political system at that time. Jessica was an upcoming model who worked in the country’s capital, New Delhi. Besides working in fashion, she also took on jobs as a restaurant hostess and barmaid. In 1999, she was one of the celebrity bartenders working at the plush Tamarind Court restaurant in Mehrauli.

On April 29, 1999, she was tending to a large party organized at the hotel when she was shot and killed by Manu Sharma. The killing took place after Jessica refused to serve him alcohol after the bar closed down. Siddharth Vashisht, or Manu Sharma, as he was known, was the son of a leading political member from Haryana. The murder trial that was held following the incident remains one of the most controversial and popular events in the modern justice system. Manu Sharma was acquitted for lack of evidence at the initial proceeding after he shot Jessica. The blatant misuse of power ignited national outrage, and there were two candlelight vigils held in support of Jessica. One group was made up of models and other celebrities, while the other was largely made up of people demanding justice around the nation.

Her sister Sabrina and leading news media journalists dug deeper into the case of the young model. The perpetrator was finally sentenced to jail after a wide public outcry. Jessica’s death is remembered in popular culture with the 2011 Bollywood movie ‘No One Killed Jessica’ starring Vidya Balan Vidya Balan is an award winning Bollywood actress >> Read More... and Rani Mukherjee, and Vikas Swarup’s novel ‘Six Suspects,’ which is loosely based off the story.