The claim that there were many loopholes in the case presented by the prosecution, which the counsel for the the foreign students utilised to tilt the case in their favour.
A Kapurthala District and Sessions court had recently acquitted Hashim Idriss, Ahmad Aigaly, both from Sudan, and Saeed Feisal from Tanzania in the murder case as the prosecution lawyer could nether prove the murder charge nor could substantiate the alternate charge of culpable homicide not amounting to the murder of Mizoram student, Johny Lall Mangahi Zuala (22), who was pursuing a degree in civil engineering.
The prosecution had mentioned that a ‘lalkara’ (to challenge some one for some violent action) was given by the foreign nationals for killing Johny after he scored a goal in the match. The defence counsel, Harminder Syal, proved that Sudanese students were shouting in their own language.
The court also ruled that it was a free-for-all fight and the role of the three accused in killing Johny could not be established beyond doubt.
The legal experts say that the prosecution also failed to present the statements of the four key witnesses in this case strongly.
The statements of the Surinder Kumar Khurana, senior security officer of LPU and Satish Kumar Sharda, referee of the match, were found to be doubtful. During the cross-examination the duo accepted that they had not seen the three alleged accused attacking Johny as they were at a distance from the place where the incident took place. The statement was contrary to what they had said earlier.
The other two eyewitnesses, Sanjay Singh and Liansangzuala, who were part of the Mizo team, also could not support the prosecution with their statements even as the defence alleged that Johny died to due to medical negligence.
Johny succumbed to injuries he suffered after some foreign students, a majority of them Sudanese, allegedly kicked and thrashed him during a semifinal football match between the Sudan Eagle and the Mizo team. The incident took place after Johny had scored a goal.