Manu will walk free: Jethmalani

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Keywords: Manu Sharma, Ram Jethmalani

New Delhi: Senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani has accused the media of being bias against his client Manu Sharma, the main accused in the Jessica Lall murder case.

An angry Jethmalani on Friday threatened to file a contempt case against the media after a newspaper published a report which claimed that he had questioned the integrity of Justice R S Sodhi, who he is hearing the Jessica case in the Delhi High Court.

"I will ask the judges to shut the courtroom because today verdicts are given within the confines of a TV studio," Jethmalani said.

The former union law minister alleged the media has unleashed a malicious campaign against Sharma and doubts the integrity of the judges hearing the case. That allegation seem ironic as in a petition before the Delhi High Court, Jethmalani on Friday requested that the case be transferred from Sodhi's court.

"The prosecution, police and the media can do what they want but Manu will be acquitted one thousand percent, but I don’t want people to say that we won the case because the judge was corrupt."

The case is not new to Jethmalani: in 1999 the Lall family had consulted him while the case was in the trial stage. To see the same lawyer on the opposite camp now is unnerving for the Lall family.

"There is a moral and ethical issue which Mr jethmalani needs to consider. We had not paid him in 1999, but he is a former law minister and needs to judge," Sabrina Lall.

Jethmalani's petition for transferring the case will be heard by Justices Sodhi and Bhasin on Tuesday. Jethmalani insists that every accused deserves a free trial and to ensure that Manu gets one too, he has now decided to fight for him both inside and outside the courtroom.