The trial of three Rwandan university students arrested in India, in January, for allegedly "using vulgar words” against an Indian lady, has been postponed after a police witness failed to appear in court. "Yesterday [Wednesday] we were present in court at 10am, but the witness on the side of the plaintiff was, once again, absent.

They postponed the case to September 25 at 10 am,” Trojan Rugira, the Public Relations Officer of Rwandan Students Association in Punjab, India, told The New Times  yesterday. The trio first appeared in court in February to hear the charges against them.

They again appeared on April 23. In another hearing, on May 28, the same witness (a Policeman) was absent and the court postponed the hearing to July 31. The students are going on with their studies.

After the second hearing, Mucyo Rutishisha, an official at the Rwanda High Commission in New Delhi, told The New Times that negotiations were ongoing "between the students and the accuser’s family” for the case to be settled out of court.