Date:22/02/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/02/22/stories/2006022218581400.htm

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Five-word verdict

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: "All the accused are acquitted'' was all that Additional Sessions Judge S. L. Bhayana said while pronouncing the judgment in the Jessica Lal murder case on Tuesday.

He uttered those five words and rose for the day.

When reporters sent him a message through his court staff that they wanted to meet him to know the grounds on which the accused had been acquitted, the Judge sent word that he he had to rush to the Delhi High Court for an important meeting.

The reporters then decided to meet the Judge in the portico where his car was parked to take him to the High Court. When the Judge came out of his chamber , the reporters requested him to share with them the reasons for the acquittal and he obliged them.