SC to hear plea of 93-yr-old convict

The Supreme Court will hear an appeal next week by a 93-year old murder convict serving a life term at the Uttar Pradesh jail in a 40-year old case.

The petitioner Rohtas challenged the Allahabad High Court’s judgment of February 12 this year which dismissed his appeal and upheld the punishment of life till death on him. His lawyers sought urgency to hear the case as the nonagenarian suffered health ailments due to which the right portion of body became almost paralysed.

The Vacation Bench of Justices UU Lalit and Deepak Gupta directed the matter for listing on Monday. The petitioner’s counsel stated medical reports of the petitioner showed blockage in his brain due to which he may slip into coma or incur complete paralysis of his body. The High Court, in its verdict refused to consider this ground and punished Rohtas and two others for the crime. The life term was first awarded by the trial court in 1983.

The incident took place in Bagpat district of Uttar Pradesh on September 29, 1978 involving two groups that fought over harvesting crop from a piece of land. The police claimed that the incident had occurred due to land dispute between the parties and Rohtas along with other accused assaulted the members of the opposite party.  One person died due to the injuries sustained during the incident.

The accused denied the charges leveled against them and told the HC that one of them had lodged a complaint with the police about the incident. They pleaded ‘right to self defence’ but the High Court dismissed their plea. They further contended that one of them too sustained serious injuries during the scuffle.

The appeal by the 93-year old accused evoked concern of the apex court. The matter was mentioned on an earlier occasion too before the apex court.

But the bench refused to hear as it found certain derogatory comments made against the HC judges. The appeal was heard after the objectionable statements were removed.