Judgment Day nears

Expect verdicts in some important cases by 2006-end.

The year 2006 saw significant verdicts in murder cases such as those of Jessica Lall, Priyadarshini Mattoo and cartoonist Irfan Hussain. It also saw several first-time convictions in murder cases. These include conviction of don Babloo Srivastava and recently of Union minister Shibu Soren.

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The year may close with the High Court’s verdict in the appeal filed by Delhi Police after the acquittal of all nine accused in the Jessica Lall case early this year. This trend is likely to continue next year.

Going by court proceedings, verdicts in several other prominent cases are in their final stages. A few of the cases, which are in their last stages of trial, are the BMW hit-and-run case, Uphaar fire case against Ansals, journalist Shivani Bhatnagar murder case, the infamous Connaught Place shoot-out case involving a senior ACP, murder of Congress Councillor Atma Ram Gupta and the rape and murder case of an Australian tourist Dawn Emelie Griggs.